Montia chamissoi (Toad Lily, Water Minerslettuce)

 7/7/07 Meadow off Hwy 108W, left side of road just west of  Sonora Pass Historical Marker.
 Elevation 9,624', Sierra Nevada, Stanislaus National Forest, Mono County, CA

7/6/02 Onion Valley, Eastern Sierra, Inyo County

7/6/02 Onion Valley, Eastern Sierra, Inyo County, CA

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Toad Lily, Water Minerslettuce, Spring Beauty

SPECIES: Montia chamissoi

FAMILY: Montiaceae (Miner's Lettuce Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 7/6/2002

LOCATION: Onion Valley, 9,200' elevation, Eastern Sierra, Inyo County, CA

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Treatment from The Jepson Manual (1993):

Perennial 2–30 cm, from leafy stolons, erect to prostrate or floating, often tufted or matted; rhizomes scaly, with pink, overwintering bulblets

Leaves opposite, 5–50 mm, oblanceolate

Inflorescences generally few, some axillary; flowers 2–8

Flower: sepals 1.5–2 mm, spheric; petals 5–9 mm, equal, pink or white; stamens 5

Fruit 1–1.5 mm

Seed 1–1.3 mm; tubercles low, rounded; appendage flattened

Ecology: Wet, sandy or loamy soil, seeps, wet meadows

Elevation: 1100–3700 m.  

Bioregional distribution: Klamath Ranges, High North Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, High Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, Great Basin Floristic Province 

Distribution outside California: to Alaska, Wyoming, New Mexico, also c Canada, north-central US

Flowering time: Jun–Aug