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desert horse-purslane, horse purslane

Habit Plants annual, succulent, usually glabrous.
Stems

prostrate or decumbent, diffusely branched, to 10 dm;

young branches with lines of minute hairs proximal to petioles.

Leaves

unequal pairs alternating along stem;

stipules dilated at base;

petiole usually equaling blade;

blade elliptic to orbiculate, to 4 cm, apex obtuse, often notched, or apiculate.

Inflorescences

flowers usually solitary, sessile, in axils of smaller leaves (bracts) of some pairs, partly covered by sheathing stipule of bracts;

bracteoles connate, 1–1.5 mm, apex acute.

Flowers

calyx 3–5 mm;

calyx lobes purple adaxially, lanceolate, 2.5 mm;

stamens 5–10.

Capsules

cylindric, ± curved, 4–5 mm, corky, basal portion appearing embedded in stem, apical portion containing 1 seed;

apical wings 2, prominent, erect, crestlike.

Seeds

ca. 7, dull reddish brown to black, ridged, 1.5–2 mm.

Trianthema portulacastrum

Phenology Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Moist or seasonally dry, usually open, wetlands including alkaline flats, playa lakes, banks of rivers, creeks, roadside depressions, beaches, disturbed areas including gardens, irrigated soils and ditches, fields, ballast, stockyards, sidewalks, railroad tracks
Elevation 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NM; NV; OK; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Africa
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Discussion

In Arizona, Trianthema portulacastrum is a host plant of the beet leafhopper (T. H. Kearney and R. H. Peebles 1960). Seed dispersal is achieved by several methods: one seed is dispersed in the detached cap of the capsule, which can float, and the other seeds are either dispersed individually from the capsule or remain on the annual, parent plant where they will germinate and establish new plants where the parent once grew or was deposited.

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

Source FNA vol. 4, p. 83.
Parent taxa Aizoaceae > Trianthema
Synonyms T. procumbens
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 223. (1753)
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