Montiaceae (mon-tee-AYE-see-ee)
Iconic Features
- Herbaceous, usually fleshy plants
- Leaves simple
- Generally 2 sepals
- Seeds with elaiosomes
Description (Jepson)
- Eudicotyledons (eudicots) – a major lineage of flowering plants including most plants traditionally described as dicots and generally characterized by
- 2 seed leaves (dicotyledon)
- Netted (reticulate) leaf venation
- Flower parts in fours and fives
- Pollen grains with 3 pores (tricolpate)
- Vascular bundles in stem arranged in a ring
- Taproot system
- Annual to perennial herbs
- Leaves
- Simple (not divided into leaflets)
- Often fleshy or succulent, an adaptation to dry conditions and intense sunlight
- Alternate (1 leaf at each junction with stem) or opposite (2 leaves at each junction with stem)
- Flowers
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) in many forms
- Bisexual and radially symmetric
- Generally 2 sepals
- Ovary superior (above the attachment of other flower parts)
- Fruit a capsule (a dry, multi-chambered fruit that splits open at maturity)
- Seeds have fleshy appendages called elaiosomes, nutrient-rich packages that attract ants, who carry the seeds back to their colony, feed the packet to their larvae, and discard the seed–thus aiding in seed dispersal
- Many species contain oxalic acid, giving them a mildly acidic bite
Notes
- Approximately 230 species worldwide
- Includes red maids, pussypaws, and bitterroots
- Scientific name from the included genus Montia, named for Giuseppe Monti (1682-1760), botanist, chemist and Director of the Bologna Botanic Garden
- Represented by 5 species at Edgewood
General References
Calflora Database. 2014. Berkeley, California.
Calscape. 2018. California Native Plant Society.
Charters, M.L. 2015. California Plant Names: Latin and Greek Meanings and Derivations.
Charters, M.L. 2017. Southern California Wildflowers: Guide to the Pronunciation of Specific, Generic and Family Names.
Corelli, T. 2004. Flowering Plants of Edgewood Natural Preserve (2nd. ed.). Monocot Press, Half Moon Bay, California.
Elpel, T.J. 2013. Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. HOPS Press, Pony, Montana.
Flora of North America. efloras.org.
Harris, J.G., and M.W. Harris. 2013. Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring Lake, Utah.
Keator, G. 2009. California Plant Families. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California.
Native American Ethnobotany DB.
Regents of the University of California. Jepson eFlora. Jepson Herbarium. University of California, Berkeley.
Browse Some Edgewood Plants in this Family
