Portulaca amilis |
Portulacaceae |
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Paraguayan purslane |
purslane family |
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Habit | Plants annual; roots fibrous. | Subshrubs [shrubs] or herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial, often succulent or fleshy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | prostrate to suberect; trichomes dense at nodes and in inflorescence; branches 5–25 cm. |
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Leaves | blades oblanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, flattened, 5–30 × 2–12 mm, apex acute to submucronate; involucrelike leaves 6–8(–9). |
opposite, subopposite, or alternate and sometimes secund, sometimes rosulate or subrosulate, exstipulate (except Portulaca and Talinopsis, with nodal or axillary hairs regarded as stipular); blade margins mostly entire, occasionally dentate to crisped. |
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Inflorescences | axillary or terminal, cymose, racemose, paniculate, or umbellate, sometimes glomerate, spikelike, or with flowers solitary, open to congested. |
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Flowers | 5–20 mm diam.; petals pink to purple, obovate, 7–10 × 4–8 mm; stamens 15–45; stigmas 7–10. |
mostly radially symmetric, sometimes slightly irregular (in Montia); sepals 2–9; petals (1–)2–19 or sometimes absent, distinct or connate basally; stamens 1–many, opposite and sometimes basally adnate to petals; gynoecium 2–9-carpelled; ovary 1, superior (half-inferior to inferior in Portulaca), 1-locular throughout or initially plurilocular and becoming 1-locular distally (in Portulaca), placentation basal or free-central, ovules 1-many; style present, sometimes branched, or absent; stigmas 1–9. |
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Fruits | capsular. |
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Capsules | ovoid, 2–5.5 mm diam. |
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Seeds | black, orbiculate, flattened, 0.4–0.6 mm diam., shiny; surface cells obscurely stellate, tuberculate to ± smooth. |
smooth or sculptured, with or without strophioles or elaiosomes. |
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x | = 4–9, 11, 13, 15, 23. |
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2n | = 18. |
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Portulaca amilis |
Portulacaceae |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–early fall. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Fields, granitic outcrops, disturbed habitats | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-200 m (0-700 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; NC; SC; South America [Introduced in North America]
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Primarily Southern Hemisphere; poorly represented in Eurasia |
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Discussion | Prior to 1981, Portulaca amilis had been included conceptually within P. pilosa (A. E. Radford et al. 1968). However, W. S. Judd and R. P. Wunderlin (1981) correctly identified P. amilis as an introduction from South America. It tends to occur in the sandy soils at the junction of the coastal plain and the piedmont provinces, but it is also spreading north and south through the coastal plain, where it has exhibited a weedy nature, as shown by collection data from Virginia to Florida. Portulaca amilis has only pink to purple petals in the United States; C. D. Legrand (1962) reported a yellow form of the species in South America. A. F. Clewell (1985) incorrectly gave the petal color of P. amilis as yellow. J. F. Matthews and P. A. Levins (1985) traced the spread of the species in the southeast and theorized as to the means of introduction. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera 20–30, species ca. 500 (9 genera, 91 species in the flora). The eastern New World species of Portulacaceae seem to have a closer relationship with the African species, and the western New World species a closer one with the Australian species, than the two New World groups have with each other to each other. The outer perianth segments, referred to herein as sepals, are held by some (e.g., T. Eckardt 1976) to be modified bracteoles, the petals then representing the true sepals. However, the traditional interpretation, adopted here and in most North American floras, still finds current support (R. C. Carolin 1987). A comparable situation prevails with respect to the cauline leaves in Claytonia and other genera, which are widely interpreted to be foliaceous bracts (R. C. Carolin 1987); here again, as is appropriate in a descriptive context, the traditional terminology is employed. In Talinopsis and Portulaca, the stipular nature of the nodal or axillary hairs also has been a matter of discussion. The question was revisited by R. Geesink (1969), who denied their stipular origin. The relationships of the family are not a matter of dispute (A. Cronquist 1981; R. C. Carolin 1987); the same cannot be said for the relationships and delimitations of the genera, which have always been labile. They are, at present, the subject of active research, which has led to the current acceptance of Phemeranthus and Cistanthe. Changes in the generic classification are discussed in the treatments of the genera concerned. Because of the uncertain relationships, the genera and species are listed alphabetically. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 497. | FNA vol. 4, p. 457. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Portulacaceae > Portulaca | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Name authority | Spegazzini: Anales Soc. Ci. Argent. 92: 104, plate 6. (1921) | Adanson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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