Field Book of Western Wild Flowers. Armstrong Margaret
kinds of Montia, closely related to Claytonia, mostly natives of North America, rather succulent plants, very smooth and often with a "bloom." The flowers are white or pinkish, with two sepals; the five petals, equal or somewhat unequal, separate or more or less united at base; the stamens five or three; the style branches three; the capsule with three valves and one to three, shiny, black seeds, which when ripe are shot out of the capsule by the elastic closing of the valves.
Miner's Lettuce
Móntia parviflòra
White
Spring, summer
West, except Ariz.
The Indians gather these pretty succulent little plants for salad and indeed the tender, bright-green leaves look as if they would taste very nice. They grow in a loose bunch, with several stems, a few inches to a foot high. The root-leaves have long leaf-stalks and vary very much in size and shape, the earliest being long and narrow, like little green tongues, but the later ones oval, round and kidney-shaped, and they vary also in tint, in dry places being sometimes a dull yellowish-pink. The stem-leaves are quite odd, for a single pair have united around the stem and become a circular or somewhat two-lobed disk, one or two inches broad, the stalk piercing right through its center. This leaf forms a pretty, shallow saucer, with a small, loose cluster of tiny flowers, on slender flower-stalks, springing from the middle. This is common everywhere in orchards or vineyards, and in shady places in the foothills and canyons, and has long been cultivated in England for salad. It is also called Indian Lettuce and Squaw Cabbage. M. perfoliàta is similar.
Miner's Lettuce – Montia parviflora.
Spring Beauty
Móntia parvifòlia
White and pink
Spring
Northwest
This charming little flower resembles the Spring Beauty of the East, Claytonia Virginica, and blooms in late spring, among the ferns and wet grasses near the Yosemite waterfalls and in similar places. The white flowers, about three-quarters of an inch across, are often tinged with pink and the five stamens are violet. The tender stems, about eight inches tall, are weak and almost trailing and the pale-green leaves are smooth, the lower ones slightly thick and succulent, with little bulblets in the axils, which drop off in drying; the capsule mostly has only one seed.
There are several kinds of Claytonia, resembling Montia.
Spring Beauty
Claytònia lanceolàta
Pink and white
Spring
Northwest, Cal., Nev., and Utah
A pretty little plant, three or four inches high, with a juicy, reddish stem and thickish, bluish-green, juicy leaves, the root-leaf narrow, the two stem-leaves broader. The flowers, over half an inch across, are white, tinged and delicately veined with pink, with a little yellow at the base of the petals; the pistil and stamens pink; the two sepals yellowish-green. This grows on moist mountain slopes, up to an altitude of nine thousand feet, sometimes at the edge of the snow, is pretty and delicate and also resembles the eastern Spring Beauty.
Spring Beauties
Claytonia lanceolata.
Montia parvifolia.
There are only one or two kinds of Spraguea, natives of North America; low herbs, not very succulent, with fleshy roots; the leaves alternate, or from the root; the small flowers in coiled clusters; the two sepals and the four petals all papery; the stamens one, two, or three in number; the style long, with two stigmas; the capsule roundish, with two valves, containing few or many, shining, black seeds.
Pussy-paws
Spràguea umbellàta
(Calyptridium)
Pink
Summer, autumn
Northwest
Sandy spots in the mountains are often brightened by lovely patches of the soft pink blooms of this attractive and odd-looking little plant. Near Wawona, on the Glacier Point trail, I saw at least half an acre of sand carpeted with beautiful rose-color. In moderate altitudes the plants are about ten inches tall, but they get dwarfish as they climb and on the mountain-tops they are only an inch or so high, with close mats of small leaves. They have strong tap-roots and the leaves are dull gray-green, rather thick and stiff but hardly succulent, and grow mostly in rosettes at the base, those on the stem having shrunk to mere bracts, with several, smooth, reddish stalks springing from among them. Each stem bears a close, roundish head, two or three inches across, consisting of many tightly-coiled tufts of shaded pink, each composed of innumerable, small, pink flowers, the papery, pink and white sepals and bracts being the most conspicuous part. They overlap each other and have daintily ruffled edges. The three stamens are long and protruding and the style long and threadlike. The flower-clusters are like soft pink cushions, so the pretty little name of Pussy-paws is appropriate, both to form and coloring. Chipmunks are very fond of the small, black seeds.
Pussy-paws – Spraguea umbellata.
BUTTERCUP FAMILY. Ranunculaceae
The members of this large and handsome family vary so much in appearance that it is difficult for the amateur to realize that they are nearly related. In fact they have no very distinctive characteristics. They are all herbs, except Clematis, which is shrubby, and all have bitter juice, which is never milky or colored, numerous stamens and usually several pistils, which are superior and one-celled, bearing a single style, and all the parts of the flower are separate from each other and inserted on the receptacle. The flowers are often of eccentric forms, with spurs or hoods; sometimes they dispense with petals altogether and instead have colored sepals which resemble petals. The leaves are of all sorts and shapes, usually more or less lobed and cut, but have no stipules and often their bases clasp the stem. The fruit is an akene, pod, or berry. Many of our most beautiful and popular garden flowers are included in this family, which is large and distributed throughout the world, but not abundant in the tropics.
There are numerous kinds of Ranunculus, mostly perennials, with fibrous roots, growing in temperate and cold regions. Ours have yellow or white flowers, with three to five sepals and from three to fifteen petals, each of the petals with a nectar-gland at its base; the numerous pistils developing into a roundish or oblong head of akenes. The leaves are variously cut and lobed, the stem leaves alternate. Some sorts grow in the water and some have creeping stems. Some kinds of Ranunculus are liable to be confused with some sorts of Cinquefoils, but the calyx of a Buttercup has no bractlets, as has that of a Cinquefoil. The Latin name means "little frog," as these plants like marshes.
Common Western Buttercup
Ranúnculus Califórnicus
Yellow
Winter, spring
Wash., Oreg., Cal.
The commonest kind are attractive, often coloring the fields for miles with bright gold, but the flowers are not so pretty as some common eastern kinds. The stems are branching and more or less hairy, nine inches to a foot and a half tall, with dark-green leaves, smooth, hairy or velvety, and velvety, hairy buds. The flowers are about an inch across, with from nine to sixteen, bright-yellow, shiny petals and pale-green