Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Montia fontana

Flowering and seeding stems. Photographer Russell Best, Macedon Ranges, Vic

Flowering plant. Photographer Russell Best, Baw Baw National Park, Vic

Common name

Water Blinks

Family

Portulacaceae

Where found

Wet grassland, moist places, seepage areas, swamps, and shallow pools. Mainly ACT, the mountains to the west, Kosciuszko National Park, and the Western Slopes. Occasional elsewhere.

Notes

Tufted annual herb to 0.2 m high, rooting at the nodes. Leaves opposite each other, 0.5–2 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, tips pointed, bases expanded, membranous, very shortly fused around the stems. Flowers with 5 white to pale mauve petals each 1.5–2 mm long, united at the base to form a short tube. Flowers single or in small clusters, exceedingly short-lived. Flowering: September–December.

Differentiation of the subspecies is dependent on microscopic examination of the seeds, beyond the scope of this key.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

Data deficient Vic. (subsp. amporitana and subsp. fontana).

Family Montiaceae in Vic.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Montia~fontana  (accessed 25 April 2021)