Portulaca pilosa |
Portulacaceae |
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chisme, kiss-me-quick |
purslane family |
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Habit | Plants annual; roots fibrous to slightly fleshy. | Subshrubs [shrubs] or herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial, often succulent or fleshy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | prostrate, suberect to erect, succulent; trichomes conspicuous at nodes and in inflorescence; branches 3–25 cm. |
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Leaves | blades linear to oblong-lanceolate, terete to hemispheric, 5–20 × 1–3 mm, apex acute; involucrelike leaves 6–9. |
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 | 5–12 mm diam.; petals dark pink to purple, obovate, 3–5(–7) × 1.5–3 mm; stamens 5–12(–37); stigmas 3–5(–6). |
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, 1.5–4.3 mm diam. |
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Seeds | 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. |
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 | = 8, 16. |
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Portulaca pilosa |
Portulacaceae |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–early fall, year-round in s Fla. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Dry soils, beaches, disturbed habitats, roadsides and railroads on limestone, granitic, and sandstone outcrops | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
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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Primarily Southern Hemisphere; poorly represented in Eurasia |
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Discussion | 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.) |
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. 499. | FNA vol. 4, p. 457. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Portulacaceae > Portulaca | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | P. mundula | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 445. (1753) | Adanson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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