Portulaca grandiflora |
Portulaca pilosa |
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cultivated purslane, moss-rose, rock rose, rose moss |
chisme, kiss-me-quick |
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Habit | Plants annual; roots fibrous. | Plants annual; roots fibrous to slightly fleshy. |
Stems | prostrate to suberect; trichomes conspicuous at nodes and in inflorescence; branches to 30 cm. |
prostrate, suberect to erect, succulent; trichomes conspicuous at nodes and in inflorescence; branches 3–25 cm. |
Leaf | blades linear to lanceolate, terete to hemispheric, 5–30 × 1–5 mm, apex acute or subacute; involucrelike leaves 8–9(–14). |
blades linear to oblong-lanceolate, terete to hemispheric, 5–20 × 1–3 mm, apex acute; involucrelike leaves 6–9. |
Flowers | 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. |
5–12 mm diam.; petals dark pink to purple, obovate, 3–5(–7) × 1.5–3 mm; stamens 5–12(–37); stigmas 3–5(–6). |
Capsules | ovoid, (3.5–)4–6.5 mm diam. |
ovoid, 1.5–4.3 mm diam. |
Seeds | steely gray, often iridescent, orbiculate or elongate, flattened, 0.75–1 mm diam.; surface cells obscurely stellate with tubercles mostly abaxially. |
black or leaden, orbiculate (0.4–)0.5–0.6 mm diam.; surface cells loosely arranged, short-tuberculate and stellate to rounded-stellate; tubercles long or absent. |
2n | = 18. |
= 8, 16. |
Portulaca grandiflora |
Portulaca pilosa |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–fall. | Flowering late spring–early fall, year-round in s Fla. |
Habitat | Sandy soils | Dry soils, beaches, disturbed habitats, roadsides and railroads on limestone, granitic, and sandstone outcrops |
Elevation | 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft) | 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; South America; naturalized in Europe [Introduced in North America]
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AL; AR; AZ; FL; GA; KS; LA; MO; MS; NC; NM; OK; SC; TN; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
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Discussion | 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.) |
Portulaca pilosa is a highly variable species. It exhibits morphologic variability during development, with immature plants having wider (to 4 mm), longer, and flatter leaves than mature specimens. Mature leaves are narrower, shorter, and hemispheric or terete in cross section. The Linnaean drawing of the type specimen may be an immature plant. Morphologic variability also occurs in relation to habitat differences over the large geographic range of this species. Plants growing in dry habitats have the greatest density of hairs; plants growing in moist habitats are less pilose. Plants with very dense hairs on old growth will, under more moist conditions, produce new growth with fewer hairs. Growth habit is also affected by habitat. Plants growing in warm, moist environments tend to branch quickly into a spreading habit, with erect growth following secondarily. Plants in cool, dry habitats grow erect first, then branch more slowly; the plant then has a compact habit. Specimens from Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas exhibit all morphologic conditions. Those from Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma usually occur in shallow, sandy soils, often on rocky outcrops, and are often highly branched, compact, short, and not very pilose. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 498. | FNA vol. 4, p. 499. |
Parent taxa | Portulacaceae > Portulaca | Portulacaceae > Portulaca |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. mundula | |
Name authority | Hooker: Bot. Mag. 56: plate 2885. (1829) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 445. (1753) |
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