Flora of North America species comparison

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Portulaca oleracea

common purslane, little hogweed, purslane
Habit Plants annual, glabrous; taproot 2–10 cm.
Stems

prostrate, succulent;

trichomes at nodes and in inflorescence absent or inconspicuous;

branches to 56 cm.
Leaf

blades obovate or spatulate, flattened, 4–28 × 2–13 mm, apex round to retuse or nearly truncate; involucrelike leaves 1–4.
Flowers

3–10 mm diam.;

petals yellow, oblong, 3–4.6 × 1.8–3 mm;

stamens 6–12(–20);

stigmas 3–6.
Capsules

ovoid, 4–9 mm diam.
Seeds

black or dark brown, orbiculate or elongate, flattened, 0.6–1.1 mm;

surface cells ± smooth, granular, or stellate, with rounded tubercles.
2n

= 18, 36, 54.

Portulaca oleracea
Phenology Flowering late spring–early fall.
Habitat Fields, waste places
Elevation 0-2800 m (0-9200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

A. P. Simopoulos and N. Salem Jr. (1986) and A. P. Simopoulos et al. (1992) have shown Portulaca oleracea to have the highest content of omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants of any green leafy vegetable examined to date, suggesting that common purslane should be considered for its nutritional value and not for its weediness. It has long been used as fodder and may have been present in the New World in pre-Columbian times (R. Byrne and J. H. McAndrews 1975). Currently, it is fed to poultry to reduce egg cholesterol.

Portulaca oleracea is a highly variable species with worldwide distribution in temperate to warm regions and is the most winter-hardy of all the portulacas. It is a very aggressive weed, one of the ten most noxious weeds worldwide (J. S. Singh and K. P. Singh 1967). As such, many variants have been named (C. D. Legrand 1962) based on seed surface differences, size of seeds, or on variable characters of growth habit, leaf length, and number of stamens. Seven subspecies were recognized by A. Danin et al. (1978): subsp. oleracea, subsp. impolita Danin & H. G. Baker, subsp. granulatostellulata Danin & H. G. Baker, subsp. nicaraguensis Danin & H. G. Baker, subsp. nitida Danin & H. G. Baker, subsp. papillatostellulata Danin & H. G. Baker, and subsp. stellata Danin & H. G. Baker.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4.
Parent taxa Portulacaceae > Portulaca
Sibling taxa
P. amilis, P. biloba, P. grandiflora, P. halimoides, P. pilosa, P. rubricaulis, P. smallii, P. suffrutescens, P. umbraticola
Synonyms P. neglecta, P. retusa
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 445. (1753)
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Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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