Montia linearis, narrow-leaf miner’s lettuce
It was Claytonia linearis and some sources still use C.
linearis.
The genus Montia is named for Giuseppe Monti, Italian
botanist, 1682-1760.
The genus Claytonia is named for John Clayton, colonial
American botanist, born 1686.
I wonder why the name change was made.
Douglas Justice
“The genus is named in honour of John
Clayton (1686-1773), who, according to William T. Stearn (Stearn's Dictionary
of Plant Names for Gardeners, 1972 ) "came
to Virginia from England America
*
Comment below the UBC article:
“Claytonia perfoliata dates from 1796; Montia perfoliata
dates from 1893. The earlier name takes presidence.”
*
Montiaceae family, the Montia family
Montia linearis was in the Portulacaceae family, the
Purslane family and most sources still have it in the Portulacaceae family.
It has many ‘common’ names: narrow leaf miner’s lettuce is
most frequent but also water chickweed, Indian lettuce, spring beauty, linear-leaved
spring beauty, candy-flower, line-leaf Montia, winter purslane.
It may be confused with Montia dichotoma which has sepals to
2 mm in length and is only 2-8 mm tall. [Photos of M. dichotoma often, not
always, have sepals marked with reddish streaks that I do not see in M.
linearis.]
Montia linearis
Native
Annual
A highly uniform species
Glabrous [Without hair. Seems odd that this plant is early
and doesn’t have hair for protection against the cold.]
It is a forb/herb. A forb/herb is a non-woody plant that is
not grass.
*
Burke:
Most Washington
counties with strange inclusions and exclusions. Only two coast counties.
National distribution also a bit strange. Most western
states except southern tier. Western Canadian Provinces, rare in Saskatchewan .
There is a strange ‘arc’ of southeastern states from Virginia to Louisiana
and only a spot in Massachusetts .
A guess based on the skimpy information I found has it that
there is not much interest in the plant. The ‘Australian New Crops Web Site;
Listing of Interesting Plants of the World’ has a graph of publications on
Montia linearis from 1925 to 2006, 41 years. It looks like there was only one
paper published in each of six different years.
When I began this photo adventure I thought there would be a
book published on every imaginable plant, probably by a botanical hobbyist in New England . That does not seem to be the case.
There is a book on Montia linearis, $58! The announcement of
the book in Google search mentions that most of material is taken from free
sources available on the internet.
I don’t have access to the book. It would be interesting to
see their organization of the information they found.
*
INFLORESCENCE
The flowers of Montia Linearis are usually called ‘a loose
inflorescence’. It is also called ‘a raceme’.
Because the flowers of the inflorescence occur on only one
side of the stem, they are described as ‘secund’. It seems clear from my photos
that the pedicles [flower stalks of individual flowers] originate on both sides
of the peduncle [the main stem of the inflorescence]. The flowers do ‘hang
down’ below the curving peduncle.
Wikipedia: In a raceme, the oldest flowers are born towards
the base and new flowers are produced as the shoot grows. [There is an apical
blossom. It looks like new apical blossoms branch from the peduncle above the
previous apical blossom, something to watch for and photograph next year.]
Inflorescences terminal. Flowers 2 to 8. [Inflorescences are
also axillary. See below.]
Inflorescences terminal, 1-bracteate. [?] [Bracteate means
‘having bracts’. Does this mean it has one bract? No. One row of bracts,
perhaps.]
BLOSSOMS
White or pale pink.
Petals unequal, white or pale pink. [The petals in my photos
look a little unequal, not strikingly. Something else to observe and record in
2013 … and compare to other blossoms. Are the petals of flowers that have
petals usually ‘equal’?]
Sepals widely ovate, obtuse to truncate
Stamens 3 to 5.
Filaments fused to corolla base.
Ovary chamber 1, placentas basal, style 1, stigmas 3 [3
stigmas, 3 styles, three chamber ovary?]
Anther yellow
STEMS
Many stems from base. [Not always.]
LEAVES
Turner says M. linearis is ‘branched at the base’ but does
not have basal leaves.
The leaves at the base look like basal leaves in some of my
photos. The dictionary of Botany defines ‘basal leaves’ as leaves at or near
the base.]
Flora of North America :
Leaves not distinctly petiolate. [The leaves seems to be ‘clasping’ in my
photos so they are not at all petiolate … no sign of a leaf stalk.]
Clasping leaf sheaths.
Only one source characterizes their leaves as ‘succulent’.
They look succulent to me. The leaves are called ‘linear’.
Filiform, scarious at the base. [Filiform, having a
threadlike form.] [Scarious, having a dry membranous appearance but fairly
stiff. This doesn’t seem to apply.]
ROOTS
Fibrous. slender fibrous.
FRUIT
Capsules, 3 valved. [Valves seem to be the pieces of the
outside of the capsule after dehiscence … after it splits open. Thee valves, once
again, suggests a three chambered capsule.]
SEEDS
black
seeds tuberculate
elaiosome absent
1-3, generally black, smooth to tubercled, fleshy-appendaged
or not
Seed smooth or minutely netted, no appendage.
I have no photos of seeds.
*****************
I have been calling these ‘plant photo-biographies’ and have
not been thinking beyond that. So I typically start the photo series with young
plants and work up toward seeds. Yeah, I know. I don’t always. But that’s the
thought, never the less.
It occurs to me that it might be more useful to people
unfamiliar with the plants to start off with photos of the plants as they
appear at maturity.
But, for now, I’ll start off with young plants and ‘work
up’.
*
At least two different sources say that Montia linearis is a
highly uniform species. If that is true then my collection of photos has
intruders that need to be weeded out. The plants in some photos look quite
different from plants in other photos.
Paul Slichter says M. linearis may be confused with M. dichotoma,
dwarf miner’s lettuce, half as tall, shorter sepals. [I often, not always, see
red steaks on calyx of M. dichotoma in internet photos that I don’t not see on
photos of M. linearis.]
I have several photos of plants that seem to be Montia that
have very red stems. I have assumed they were older plants but maybe they are a
different species … or are not Montia. One source that doesn’t assert great
authority says Montia and other ‘Portulacaceae’ turn red in direct sunlight and
poor soil.
*
One day I took a specimen that looked like M. linearis but
did not seem sufficiently succulent. I have it compared, side by side, to a
similar plant that was succulent. I suppose the difference is environmental,
probably a lack of water.
*
Total digression.
One website suggested that M. linearis was newly observed in
Poland .
The writer said the plant was ‘an ephemerophyte’.
This is a term from a scheme of terms from ecology.
An ephemerophyte is a Synanthrope.
A Synanthrope is a species of wild animals and plants that
live near and benefit from an association with human habitats.
Synanthropes are apophytes or anthropophytes depending
whether they are native or of foreign origin.
An ephemerophyte is one of a list of 6 anthropophytes. Anthropophytes
are of foreign origin. Ephemerophytes appear episodically.
There has got to be a better way to express that.
*
Photos of young plants
[Photos 040 and 050 are definite maybes]
010-100
+size.jpg)
Photos of plants
Plants with red stems and green leaves. Plants with hardly a
hint of red and no red at all. Tall plants, small plants. Plants with a
succulent look, plants that do not look succulent 140. Plants with distinctive
v shaped leaves at base [probably not basal leaves … or are they?] Plants with
a single stem. Plants with multiple stems branching from the base. Plants
branching above the base.
Tell me again about the uniformity of this species. Of
course I may be recording multiple species … various similar strangers.
110-170
Blossoms, Stamen and Pistil
Some of these are very old photos, photos taken before I
knew what I needed to express. Even so, some have information better photos
lack.
The petals are said to be white or faintly pink. I don’t
have pink petals.
One source says the anthers [pollen pouches supported by
‘filaments’] are yellow. They are faintly yellow in a few of my photos. [I have
‘brought up the color’ in most photos’.]
A couple of sources mention three stigma or branching stigma
[the tip of the pistil that catches the pollen. It is supported by a style. But
wouldn’t three stigma suggest that ‘the style’ is three styles, fused?]
175-190
Calyx
Burke and Montana Plant Life say the calyx is made up of two
sepals [modified leaves, bracts]. None of my photos illustrate that. Some of my
photos seem to suggest more than two bracts. It’s problem for dissection, in
2013.
Sepals about the same length as the petals.
230
Notice the light colored rim of the sepals. It strongly
suggests more than two sepals make up the calyx.
240-270
No sources comment on the ribbed look of the sepals or their
light colored edges.
280
Inflorescence
I don’t find a photo of a ‘full’ inflorescence among my
photos. None of my photos has a bunch of flowers blossoming at the same time on
an inflorescence.
The inflorescence of Montia linearis is a ‘loose raceme’. A
raceme is said to have the lower blossoms develop first. My photos suggest that
the current developing blossom is always apical. A new apical bud probably
develops beyond it.
The stem supporting the inflorescence as a whole is called a
peduncle. The stem supporting the individual blossoms of the inflorescence is
called a pedicel. The pedicels of Montia linearis are said to be ‘re-curved’.
The inflorescence is said to be ‘secund’ [Latin ‘secundus’,
following] because the blossoms are on one side of the peduncle and the
blossoms do ‘hang down’ on one side of the stem [except for the apical blossom,
which is reaching for the sky] but the pedicels of the blossoms originate on opposite
sides of the peduncle.
[[Ok. The apical blossom reaches vertically then,
presumably, droops and ‘goes to seed’ as it is bypassed by a successive apical
blossom. Verify in 2013.]]
The stems of the [bypassed] blossoms curve down from the
stem of the inflorescence.
The inflorescences may be either apical or axillary [Axillary:
in the axil. [The axil is the angle between upper side of a branch or leaf and
the axis from which it originates. [A little confusion, here. The internet
definitions make the axis the main stem but each branch can have leaves and
other branches and, therefore, axils.]]
The peduncle of M. linearis inflorescence with a current
blossom at the apex and pedicels of past blossoms curling down.
320
In 320 and 330 both seem to show stipules with some
pedicels. Stipules have different shapes, in this case they seem to be small
leaves. The definitions have stipules associated with leaf stalks not blossom
stalks.
330 two inflorescences are developing near the bottom of the
photo. The inflorescence on the main stem would be axillary.
Wikipedia
Stipule
A term coined by Linnaeus. Outgrowths on one or both sides of
the base of a petiole [leaf stalk].
They are morphologically variable and might appear as
glands, scales, hairs, spines or laminar [leaf like] structures.
The term ‘stipule’ and the botanical term ‘sheath’ both seem
to apply to leaf stalks, not flower stalks … but there it is, whatever it is.
290-320
Leaves and Stems
The leaves are clasping [sessile [without leaf stalks]. They
are not petiolate [having leaf stalks].
[[Rhubarb and celery we harvest and eat the petiole of the
plant.]]
[Petiole, Latin ‘little foot’]
Sheathes [I thought this was a sheath on a leaf stalk. I
forgot the leaves were ‘clasping’.]
The leaves are said to be cauline, [stem leaves,] no basal
leaves. But some plants have leaves that seem basal.
330-340
The leaves are, ‘linear’, long and slender. The leaves have
no leafstalks so they are not ‘petiolate’. They are ‘sessile’, they clasp the
stem.
360-360
There are sometimes distinctive sheaths at branching stems.
370
330-370
Fruit
You can see dim markings dividing the capsule into three in
380.
380-390
I did not find Montia perfoliata in Drumheller
Springs Park
but we have lots of photos of it from the burn in Riverside State Park
While I was chasing down information on Montia perfoliata I
ran into a nice article by Bill Casselman, ‘The Word Guy’. He seems to be
Canadian.
Casselman seems to have solved the problem of “The Red Stem
Montia” for me.
I hope this is actually a quote: “Like many purslanes and
portulacas, the plants develop a protective reddish coloration in locations
where they receive full sun or where they grow in poor soil.”
These images seem to be Montia linearis, turned red in the
heat.
400-450
Montia perfoliata.
Casselman on Montia perfoliata. The name is Latin: per
folium because it seems to pierce the leaf. It doesn’t pierce the leave, it
only clasps the leaf.
*
The UBC article, Douglas Justice, has this on the
leaves: “The epithet, perfoliata, undoubtedly refers to the leaves that
subtend the inflorescences of this species. … keen observers will notice that …
the inflorescence leaves of this species are not perfoliate at all, but
actually paired leaves that encircle the stem because they are fused at their
bases. Such leaves are termed connate.”
*
There are two similar [not very] ‘succulent’ species, both
native, Montia perfoliata and Montia sibirica, Siberian miner’s lettuce.
[Oops! Burke has Claytonia perfoliata and Claytonia
sibirica. I don’t know why. They were both moved to the Montiaceae family with
Montia linearis.]
I categorized my photos as irregular leaves and round
leaves. I thought perhaps those leaf shapes distinguished M. perfoliata from M.
sibirica but I see from internet photos that M. sibirica has leaves that are,
perhaps ‘connate’ but are unmistakably heart shaped leaves. None of my photos
show heart shaped leaves.
460-750
EATING MINER’S LETTUCE
Casselman says Claytonia perfoliata tastes like spinach when
boiled in salted water. He says it is staple for many northern ‘first people’.
Don’t eat too much, it has mildly toxic photochemicals. It
has lots of vitamins A and C.
*
The whole plant, including roots, is edible.
*
Commentators on M. perfoliata on UBC website.
“I don’t like the grassy taste.”
“… a wonderful pepper-y taste, similar to arugula!”
“Leslie Haskin in Wild Flowers of the Pacific
Northwest relates the habit of local Indians who gathered the
Claytonia and placed it over ant nests. After the ants ran all over the leaves
the flavor was improved by formic acid.”
“… love the grassy taste.”
“Just to correct a common misconception, apparently held by
many european settlers, any area with pines, firs or spruces offers an abundant
year round source of Vitamin C held in their needles. (Avoid Yew!). You may
reference this in any complete wild edible guide, such as
Peterson's. Scurvy was a scourge caused by a lack of knowledge of what the land
offered, not the winter landscape itself. Here at Wisdom of Herbs School we
encourage our students to nibble these trees freely! White Pine needle tea is a
perenial classtime favorite, infused with hot water or as a 'sun tea'.”
*
I stumbled into a photo of a plant identified as either
Montia linearis or Montia dichotoma made at ‘Moosicorn Ranch in Stevens County,
Washington, near Spokane .’
“Moosicorn Ranch is an experiment in sustainable living.”
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