Narrow-Leaved Montia: The 48th Flower of Spring!

[best appreciated at full size against black]

One of the things that makes me crazy is trying to identify certain flowers....this tiny beauty is a perfect example. It looks very similar to Miner's Lettuce, and conveniently, there was a plant growing right next to this flower so I was able to spend time comparing their obvious differences in flower and leaf shapes. (If you've been visiting my stream for a while now, you may remember that I've shown pictures of Miner's Lettuce, and a sub-species that I wasn't able to pinpoint.) After comparing a number of Miner's Lettuce sub-species, I believe this is called Narrow-Leaved Montia, also known as Narrow-Leaved Miner's Lettuce.

This flower is considered to be a weed, but it's also one of the plants you can eat! It can be found all over the western North America from British Columbia to California, as well as Utah and areas in southeastern US including Mississippi. It blooms in moist places in early to mid spring, dying when the rains dwindle.

If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: Narrow-leaved Montia (Montia linearis) Another page I found shows pictures that look just like my flower with helpful information too: Oregon State University: Narrow-leaved Montia

I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too!

Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! Janet's profile (sfhipchick)

This image was taken in April, 2012.