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cencilla, shoreline sea-purslane

Habit Plants perennial, glabrous.
Stems

prostrate, forming mats to 2 m diam., branched; rooting at nodes.

Leaves

petiole ± absent;

blade oblanceolate to elliptic-ovate, to 6 × 2.5 cm, tapered to clasping base.

Inflorescences

flowers solitary;

pedicel to 20 mm.

Flowers

calyx lobes pink-purple adaxially, with subapical abaxial appendages, ovate to lanceolate, 3–10 mm;

stamens 30;

pistil 5-carpellate;

ovary 5-loculed;

styles 5.

Capsules

conic, 10 mm.

Seeds

30–60, black, 1.2–1.5 mm, shiny, smooth.

Sesuvium portulacastrum

Phenology Flowering year-round.
Habitat Wet or desiccated soils, beaches, dunes, margins of coastal wetlands, waste grounds, ballast
Elevation 0-5 m (0-0 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; PA; SC; TX; Mexico; South America; Europe; Africa
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Discussion

Sesuvium portulacastrum is a widespread and variable subtropical and tropical species to which many names have been applied, particularly to material collected beyond North America (e.g., Argentina and Brazil). Although S. portulacastrum occurs or has been reported in natural habitats on the east coast of North America north to North Carolina, and from ballast north to the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, there are no verified records for this species occurring in western North America north of Mexico, where it occurs northward along the coasts of Sonora and Baja California. All records or collections of S. portulacastrum from desert wetlands of the United States are included in S. verrucosum.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 81.
Parent taxa Aizoaceae > Sesuvium
Sibling taxa
S. maritimum, S. trianthemoides, S. verrucosum
Synonyms Portulaca portulacastrum, Halimus portulacastrum
Name authority (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1058. (1759)
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