Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


Home	About NPWRC	Our Science	Staff	Employment	Contacts	Common Questions	About the Site

Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Chamisso's Miner's-lettuce
Montia chamissoi (Ledeb. ex Spreng.) Greene

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Purslane (Portulacaceae)
Flowering: June-August
Field Marks: This species is recognized by its opposite, oblong leaves, its white or pink flowers with petals 1/4-1/3 inch long, and its tiny unequal sepals.
Habitat: Wet meadows, boggy areas, along streams.
Habit: Perennial herb with creeping or floating stems; sometimes slender stolons bear small bulblets.
Stems: Creeping or floating, but with ascending branches up to 6 inches long, smooth.
Leaves: Opposite, simple, oblong, up to 2 inches long, up to 1/2 as wide, smooth, without teeth or lobes.
Flowers: Borne singly in the axils of the leaves, or 3-8 in racemes, each flower with a slender stalk eventually recurved in fruit, the stalk up to 1 inch long.
Sepals: 2, free from each other, green, suborbicular, unequal in size, the large one about 1/6 inch long, persistent in fruit.
Petals: Usually 5, free from each other, pink or white, 1/4-1/3 inch long.
Stamens: Usually 5, attached to the base of the petals.
Pistils: Ovary superior; styles 3.
Fruits: Capsules ovoid, up to 1/16 inch long, smooth; seeds 1-3, black, less than 1/16 inch long, covered with very minute spines.

Previous Species -- Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Return to Species List -- Group 7
Next Species -- Western Borax-weed (Nitrophila occidentalis)

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/7/montcham.htm
Page Contact Information: Webmaster
Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:27:21 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]