Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

COMMON PURSLANE

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Portulaca oleracea L.

Finney County, Kansas

Annual

Height: Prostrate

Family: Portulacaceae - Purslane Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September,October

Stems:

Prostrate, much branched and sometimes forming large mats; branches 2 to 20 inches, glabrous.

Leaves:

Cauline, alternate; petiole absent; blades flat, obovate or spatulate, .24 to 1.2 inch long, .08 to .5 inch wide; apex rounded to nearly truncate; involucre-like leaves 1-4.

Inflorescences:

Terminal, flowers in small, dense clusters or solitary.

Flowers:

Radially symmetric, .12 to .4 inch diam.; sepals 2, broadly ovate or round, .11 to .18 inch; petals 5, yellow, oblong, .12 to .18 inch; stamens 6-12; stigmas 3-6.

Fruits:

Capsules, ovoid, .16 to .35 inch; seeds many, black or dark brown, round or elongate, less than .04 inch diam., minutely rounded-tuberculate.

Habitat:

Fields, gardens, waste places, and disturbed ground

Distribution:

Occurs statewide

Origin:

Native

Uses:

Although considered a weed, common purslane has been eaten by peoples of Europe and Asia for thousands of years and is still grown as a garden vegetable in those parts of the world. The herbage of purslane may be used in fresh salads, as a cooked green vegetable, or for pickling, while the seeds may be ground and used for flour or cooked as mush.

Comments:

Portulaca, little door, alluding to the capsule lid and oleracea, resembling a garden vegetable.

Common purslane