Narrative

Montia cordifolia (to Claytonia cordifolia) is found from British Columbia south to Humboldt County, California, and east to Montana and Utah. This small plant has a single or few stems to about a foot tall. The leaves are roundish or ovate. This perennial is found in moist ground.

The white color will help identify this lifeform.

This lifeform is found in the Pacific States and Provinces of North America.

Montia genus is found in both the Old and New World in temperate regions, as well as in South America, Africa, and Asia. There are about 15 species in this genus. These are small perennial herbs with fleshy leaves. There are nine species and four subspecies growing in greater North America. (Several species in this genus have been moved to the closely related Claytonia genus. Other species have been moved here from the Claytonia genus.)

Purslane Family (Portulacaceae) contains about 500 species organized into sixteen to twenty 16-20 different genera. There are eight genera and 105 species now growing in greater North America.

Centrosperm (Centrospermae) order is a large order composed of several families.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.