Portulaca halimoides
Portulaca amilis
desert portulaca, purslane, silkcotton purslane
Paraguayan purslane
prostrate to suberect, often pinkish, succulent;
trichomes conspicuous at nodes and in inflorescence;
branches to 3–20(–25) cm.
prostrate to suberect;
trichomes dense at nodes and in inflorescence;
branches 5–25 cm.
blades linear to oblong-linear, terete to hemispheric, 2–14(–20) × 0.4–2(–3) mm, apex obtuse to acute; involucrelike leaves 4–8.
blades oblanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, flattened, 5–30 × 2–12 mm, apex acute to submucronate; involucrelike leaves 6–8(–9).
3–8 mm diam.;
petals yellow, obovate, 2–4 × 1–2.5 mm;
stamens 4–18;
stigmas 3–4(–5).
5–20 mm diam.;
petals pink to purple, obovate, 7–10 × 4–8 mm;
stamens 15–45;
stigmas 7–10.
ovoid, 1.1–2 mm diam.
ovoid, 2–5.5 mm diam.
gray or leaden, 0.3–0.5(–0.6) mm diam.;
lateral surfaces with densely arranged, flattened, stellate cells, tubercles absent; usually with a smooth, occasionally papillose, spine abaxially.
black, orbiculate, flattened, 0.4–0.6 mm diam., shiny;
surface cells obscurely stellate, tuberculate to ± smooth.
= 18.
= 18.
Portulaca halimoides
Portulaca amilis
Young plants of Portulaca halimoides in desert areas may exhibit reddish stems and sepals. As the yellow petals fade, the persistent, reddish sepals cover the top of the capsule, giving the false impression of red flowers. Immature seeds are reddish brown to brownish black and may be papillose. Morphologic variability occurs in relation to habitat differences over the range of this species. Desert conditions produce depauperate plants; more robust specimens occur in Central America and South America. The type of P. halimoides is conspecific with P. parvula A. Gray within this context. A. Gray (1887) cited P. halimoides from the Florida Keys; that is unconfirmed and is likely a confusion with P. rubricaulis.
(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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