branches, or opening by a transverse lid. Seeds 1 to many; embryo curved round a farinaceous albumen.
A small order, having its headquarters in America; found more sparingly in South Africa and Australia; decidedly rare in Asia, north Africa, and Europe. Genera 16; species about 125. Some of the American genera are shrubby; and the widely distributed Portulaca (naturalised in New Zealand) differs from the rest of the order in having perigynous petals and stamens, and a half inferior ovary. Of the New Zealand genera, Hectorella is endemic, Claytonia is mainly American, and Montia occurs in the temperate regions of both hemispheres.
| Stems slender. Stamens 5, opposite the petals. Capsule 3–many-seeded, seeds shining | 1. Claytonia. |
| Stems slender. Stamens usually 3, opposite the petals. Capsule 1–3-seeded, seeds dull and opaque | 2. Montia. |
| Alpine herb with densely tufted stems. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals | 3. Hectorella. |
1. CLAYTONIA Linn.
Annual or perennial low-growing glabrous and succulent herbs. Radical leaves petiolate, cauline opposite or alternate. Flowers solitary or in terminal or axillary racemes or cymes. Sepals 2, persistent. Petals 5, hypogynous. Stamens 5, adhering to the petals at the base. Ovary free; ovules few; style 3-cleft. Capsule globose or ovoid, membranous, 3-valved. Seeds reniform or orbicular, flattened.
Species about 20, all from North America or north-eastern Asia with the exception of the following one, which is confined to Australia and New Zealand.
1. C. australasica, Hook. f. in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 293.—A perfectly glabrous tender and succulent usually matted plant, with slender creeping stems 1–6 in. long. Leaves very variable in size, ¼–1½ in. long, alternate or in distant pairs, narrow-linear or linear-spathulate, obtuse, dilated into broad membranous sheaths at the base. Flowers large, ¼–½ in. diam., white or rose, terminal or leaf-opposed, solitary or in few-flowered lax racemes; pedicels long, slender. Sepals small, broadly orbicular. Petals much longer, broad-obovate. Capsule globose, mucronate, usually slightly exceeding the sepals. Seeds generally 3, black, smooth and shining.—Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 73; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 26; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 177; Kirk, Students' Fl. 65.
North Island: Ruahine Range and Ruapehu, H. Hill! Petrie! E. W. Andrews; Mount Egmont, Buchanan, T. F. C. South Island and Stewart Island: Common in mountain districts throughout. Ascends to over 6000 ft. on Mount Egmont, and descends to sea-level in Otago and Stewart Island.
A variable plant. When growing in dry or exposed places it is often very small and densely tufted; but in watery situations the stems lengthen out considerably and the leaves become longer. Mr. Buchanan (Trans. N.Z. Inst. iii. 210) has described two varieties characterized by the peduncles in one being 2-flowered, and in the other racemose; but I find the number of flowers to be very inconstant.
