Portulaca grandiflora
Portulaca amilis
cultivated purslane, moss-rose, rock rose, rose moss
Paraguayan purslane
prostrate to suberect;
trichomes conspicuous at nodes and in inflorescence;
branches to 30 cm.
prostrate to suberect;
trichomes dense at nodes and in inflorescence;
branches 5–25 cm.
blades linear to lanceolate, terete to hemispheric, 5–30 × 1–5 mm, apex acute or subacute; involucrelike leaves 8–9(–14).
blades oblanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, flattened, 5–30 × 2–12 mm, apex acute to submucronate; involucrelike leaves 6–8(–9).
25–55 mm diam.;
petals pink, red, purple, yellow, bronze, or white, obovate, 15–25 × 15–20 mm;
stamens 40 or more;
stigmas 5–8.
5–20 mm diam.;
petals pink to purple, obovate, 7–10 × 4–8 mm;
stamens 15–45;
stigmas 7–10.
ovoid, (3.5–)4–6.5 mm diam.
ovoid, 2–5.5 mm diam.
steely gray, often iridescent, orbiculate or elongate, flattened, 0.75–1 mm diam.;
surface cells obscurely stellate with tubercles mostly abaxially.
black, orbiculate, flattened, 0.4–0.6 mm diam., shiny;
surface cells obscurely stellate, tuberculate to ± smooth.
= 18.
= 18.
Portulaca grandiflora
Portulaca amilis
Portulaca grandiflora is naturalized in gardens and has escaped to roadsides and waste places. Studies of seed surfaces from specimens representing 100 years of collections with distribution over the United States show remarkable consistency in seed morphology. Tubercles may extend onto the lateral surface, where they are widely scattered. Only one specimen was found with no tubercles at all.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
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