Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

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Portulaca pilosa L.

[=Portulaca mundula I.M. Johnst.]

Geary County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 1-4 inches

Family: Portulacaceae - Purslane Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Also Called:

Chisme, shaggy portulaca.

Stems:

3-6, prostrate, laxly decumbent or laxly ascending, highly branched; branches 1.2 to 6+ inches long, succulent, conspicuous hairs at nodes.

Leaves:

Alternate, fleshy, cylindrical, linear to linear-oblanceolate, 1/5 to 4/5 inch long, 1/50 to 1/16 wide; tufts of whitish woolly hairs in leaf axils.

Inflorescences:

Flowers, 2-8, nearly sessile, clustered in soft-hairy heads, terminal; flowers subtended by 6-10 bract-like leaves.

Flowers:

Tiny, 1/5 to 2/5 in diameter; sepals 2, lobes triangular; petals 4-6 (usually 5), egg-shaped, 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, 1/16 to 1/8 inch wide, red to purple; tip slightly notched; stamens 10-30; stigmas 3-6.

Fruits:

Capsule, 1-celled, egg-shaped to spherical, 1/16 to 1/5 inch in diameter; seeds many, kidney-shaped, black, surface with knobby projections.

Habitat:

Disturbed sites, roadsides, rocky limestone and sandstone outcrops, along railroads; sandy or gravelly soils.

Distribution:

East 4/5 of Kansas.

Comments:

This is a highly variable species. Plants growing in dry habitats display more hair than those in moist habitats. The flowers are closed at night and open in the late morning or in the afternoon. Related to Portulaca grandiflora, a cultivated ornamental.

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