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
Browse Some Edgewood Plants in this Family
