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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

2. Montia, Linn

2. Montia, Linn.

A small glabrous herb. Leaves opposite, slightly fleshy. Flowers small, axillary or shortly racemose. Sepals 2, ovate, persistent. Petals 5, united at the base into a 5-lobed corolla, split open on one side. Stamens 3, rarely 5, inserted on the petals. Ovary free; ovules 3. Capsule globose, 3-valved, 3-seeded. Seeds nearly orbicular.

A monotypic genus, widely distributed in the north and south temperate zones.

1.M. fontana, Linn. Sp. Plant. 87. —A slender perfectly glabrous branching herb, forming dense tufts 1–5 in. high, sometimes longer and weaker when growing in water. Leaves opposite, ¼–1 in. long, linear-lanceolate or spathulate, acute or subacute, quite entire. Flowers minute, solitary or in 2–3-flowered racemes, drooping. Petals slightly longer than the sepals. Capsules small.—Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 13; Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 74; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 27; Kirk, Students' Fl. 65.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes, and Macquarie Islands: Abundant in watery places, from Rotorua and Taranaki southwards. Altitudinal range from sea-level to 4000 ft.