Plant Species: Montia linearis, linear leaf miner's lettuce
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons
Family: Portulacaceae
Genus: Montia
Species: linearis
Variety:
Common Name: linear leaf or narrow leaf miner’s lettuce
Species Code: MOLI
Origin: Native to dry to moist, open to partly shaded places from British Columbia to California and east to Montana, Wyoming, and Utah.
Rare: no
Form: forb, annual, roots fibrous; stems usually freely branched, ascending to erect, 5-20 cm tall.
Duration: annual
Longevity: annual
Habitat Type: prairie, shrub thickets, forest
Wetland Indicator Status: not listed
Leaves: basal leaves lacking; cauline leaves alternate, linear, 1.5-5 cm long.
Mature height: 2-8 inches
Flowers: borne in a loose raceme, terminal or axillary, usually secund; pedicels recurved, 5-20 mm long; sepals 2.5-4 mm long, up to 6 mm in fruit, orbicular; petals 5, white, 4-6.6 mm long.
Flower color: white
Bloom: May
Bloom starts on:
Bloom ends on:
Fruit: 3-valved capsule, 3-4 mm long; seeds black, shiny, lenticular, 1.5-2 mm long, elaiosome absent.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Claytonia linearis is synonymous. Montia and Claytonia are usually separated on the basis of the latter having corms or thick, fleshy roots. However, some taxonomists do not consider this a basis for separation and combine Montia in Claytonia.
Claytonia linearis in St. John 1963, Piper & Beattie 1914, Davis 1953.
Plant is an annual.
Fibrous rooted.
2n=24,28 (Baldwin et al 2004).
n=7 (University of British Columbia 2003).
2n=28 (Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993+).
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a capsule.
Seeds are expelled explosively.
Comments:
Sun requirement: full to partial sun
Soil moisture: xeric to mesic
Precipitation:
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time: fall
Transplant time: not recommended
Stratification: cold moist
Seed yield: low
Seed harvest: difficult
Seed first harvest: annual
Seed cleaning: easy
Planting duration: annual
Seed insect problem: none noted
Seed shatter: medium
Seed size: small
Seed harvest date: mid-late May
Seed comments: Capsules dehisce explosively, ripening is indeterminate.
Key words: annual upland forb
Alternate Genus: Claytonia
Alternate Species:
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
Corvallis Oregon Plant Materials Center
Other Propagation information:
Preliminary data from the Pullman WA Plant Materials Center shows the seed germinates at low temperatures but does not germinate at warm temperatures.
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Notes:
References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 7/30/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html
Davis, Ray J. 1952. Flora of Idaho. Wm. C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. 827 pp.
Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 7+ vols. New York and Oxford. Oxford University Press. Online at http://www.fna.org/FNA/
Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. Volume 2, Salicaceae to Saxifragaceae. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA.
Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Lancaster, PA: Press of the New Era Printing Company. 296 pp.
St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.
University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Online at http://www.bcflora.org/ Accessed 1/1/06.
USDA NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 30 July 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.