Montia fontana L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Montiaceae

• Scientific Name

  Montia fontana L.

• Description

  Species Description - Lax, branching annual or seldom perennial, 1–3 dm, often rooting from the nodes; lvs oblanceolate or spatulate or obovate, 0.5–1.3 cm; pedicels solitary or paired in the axils and terminal, to 1 cm, or the fls in 2–4-fld cymules from the upper axils; pet 5, white, ca 1.5 mm, often unequal, united at the base into a short tube split on one side; stamens 3. Springs, brooks, or wet soil, often ± aquatic; irregularly cosmopolitan, with 4 vars. differing in the ornamentation of the seed- coat. June–Sept. Our plants, with the seed-coat shiny and nearly smooth, belong to the chiefly boreal var. fontana, occurring s. to N.S. and Me. (M. lamprosperma; M. rivularis, a ± perennial phase)

• Common Names

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