BLINKS

Montia fontana

Blinks Family [Montiaceae]

month8apr month8april month8may month8jun month8june month8jul month8july month8aug month8sep month8sept month8oct

status
statusZnative
 
flower
flower8white
 
morph
morph8actino
 
petals
petalsZ5
 
stem
stem8round
 
sex
sexZbisexual
rarity
rarityZscarce
(ssp. amporitana)  
rarity
rarityZuncommon
  (sspp. chondrosperma, fontana & variabiis)


10th July 2009, West shores Coniston Water, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
On the edge of shallow lapping water.


10th July 2009, West shores Coniston Water, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
A sprawling low plant, likes to be wet.


10th July 2009, West shores Coniston Water, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The stems reddish to flesh coloured. Leaves small, oval and opposite in pairs. Very succulent-like. A very variable plant.


10th July 2009, West shores Coniston Water, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
Several small flower buds on short stalks visible in the frame, some turning to seed.


10th July 2009, West shores Coniston Water, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
A flower bud on a short translucent almost transparent stalk.


10th July 2009, West shores Coniston Water, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The leaves may also turn reddish on the obverse.




Just in case this specimen (which was found in a slow-flowing stream on the hills near the hill Base Brown) is a differing sub-species (there are, after all, FOUR sub-species!) to the set of photos from the shores of Coniston Water, your Author presents this set separately. Apparently the 4 sub-species of Blinks are best separated by looking at the seeds - which are not in evidence in the photos.

13th June 2014, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
Sprawling in a trickling stream on the path.


13th June 2014, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The leaves are in opposite pairs either without stalks altogether...


13th June 2014, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
... or with flattened stalks as the lowest pair of opposing leaves exhibit.


13th June 2014, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The green 'boxing gloves' are as-yet unopened flowers.


13th June 2014, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
An opened flower which are tiny, probably just 1 or 2mm across, depending upon how much they have opened. The petals themselves, of which there are 5, are less than 2mm long.


13th June 2014, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
There are between 3 to 5 cream-coloured stamens in Blinks flowers (it looks like 3 in this specimen). The books dont say how many stigmas the flowers have, but it looks like there are 3 white ones in this photo.


13th June 2014, Seathwaite, Borrowdale Valley, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The developing green ovary within seems to have 3 compartments (on this specimen). Beneath the opened flower is the sepal cup of an as-yet un-opened flower. Does it have 5 sepals, your Author wonders - probably - from some of the photos above.




 Montia fontana ssp. chondrosperma

19th May 2013, Bramshott Common, North Hampshire. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
 A much rarer sub-species found in less that 250 hectads. Its leaves are usually broader than other species of Blinks.

Sub-species : Four sub-species exist, all with the common name of Blinks. Montia fontana subsp. amporitana, Montia fontana subsp. chondrosperma, Montia fontana subsp. fontana, Montia fontana subsp. variabilis which would account for the observed large variability of Blinks. According to the BSBI distribution maps, the photographs above could belong to either Montia fontana itself or to subsp. fontana or to subsp. variabilis, but most likely to Montia fontana itself, for only that was recorded as extant at the location in the decade the photographs were taken. Sub-species fontana is also the commonest of the sub-species of Blinks in the North West of England.

Some similarities to : Succulents such as Roseroot.

The Montia Genus, of which Blinks is a member, was once ascribed to the Portulaceae (Purslane Family), but on closer inspection has since been moved to a new Montiaceae (Blinks Family).

Habitat is bare wet places, usually with shallow lapping water which may occasionally recede leaving the ground just damp rather than wet. Sometimes on damp mud, sometimes floating in shallow water, sometimes only seasonally damp. It is a very variable plant, sometimes erect, sometimes prostrate, sometimes a matted cushion. An annual or perennial. It avoids lime.

Flowers are on short stalks, very small, with five short white petals similar in appearance to those of English Scurvygrass but with five rather than four petals.

It was almost ubiquitous throughout the UK save for central Ireland and the 'Home Counties' but is now in decline as are a great many other plants.


  Montia fontana  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Montiaceae  

Distribution
 family8Blinks family8Montiaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Montia
Montia
(Blinks)

BLINKS

Montia fontana

Blinks Family [Montiaceae]

WildFlowerFinder Homepage