Common Purslane

The cultivated subsp. sativa (Haw) Celak., (Prodr. Fl. Bohm. 484. 1875) is used as a pot herb and sold in market under the name Kulfe Ka Sag. The extract of stem is applied on skin against burning sensation and prickly heat. The purslane constitutes a useful article of diet in scurvy and diseases of lungs, liver and kidney. The leaves are slightly acidic and used as refrigerant, anti-scorbutic, astringent in dysuria, irritation of bladder, haematuria, haemoptysis and gonorrhoea. The black granulated seeds are called Tukhm-i-Khurfa-ae-Siyah and used in preparation of Unani and Ayurvedic medicines, as a demalcent, astringent, diuretic and vermifuge.

A. P. Simopoulos and N. Salem Jr. (1986) and A. P. Simopoulos et al. (1992) have shown Portulaca oleracea to have the highest content of omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants of any green leafy vegetable examined to date, suggesting that common purslane should be considered for its nutritional value and not for its weediness. It has long been used as fodder and may have been present in the New World in pre-Columbian times (R. Byrne and J. H. McAndrews 1975). Currently, it is fed to poultry to reduce egg cholesterol.

Portulaca oleracea is a highly variable species with worldwide distribution in temperate to warm regions and is the most winter-hardy of all the portulacas. It is a very aggressive weed, one of the ten most noxious weeds worldwide (J. S. Singh and K. P. Singh 1967). As such, many variants have been named (C. D. Legrand 1962) based on seed surface differences, size of seeds, or on variable characters of growth habit, leaf length, and number of stamens. Seven subspecies were recognized by A. Danin et al. (1978): subsp. oleracea, subsp. impolita Danin & H. G. Baker, subsp. granulatostellulata Danin & H. G. Baker, subsp. nicaraguensis Danin & H. G. Baker, subsp. nitida Danin & H. G. Baker, subsp. papillatostellulata Danin & H. G. Baker, and subsp. stellata Danin & H. G. Baker.

Danin et al. (Israel J. Bot. 27: 177–211. 1978) recognized a series of eight subspecies, but they are rather poorly correlated with geography and their status needs re-evaluation. The Chinese material seems to belong to the most common and weedy form placed in subsp. oleracea. There has been some selection of more robust forms for use as a vegetable; these are sometimes placed in subsp. sativa (Haworth) Celakovský.

The plants, which are common weeds of cultivation, are eaten as a vegetable and used for medicinal purposes.

Annual or perennial, prostrate or erect, c. 25 cm tall, succulent, glabrous, green or purplish green herb. Branches and stem with 3-20 mm rarely up to 50 mm long internodes. Leaves alternate or subopposite, closely crowded below the flowers, spathulate or obovate-oblong to linear-oblong, attenuate at the base, sub-sessile, obtuse or truncate, 3-25 mm long, 1.5-8 mm broad, thick, fleshy, glabrous, glistening white below, green or purplish-green above; stipular appendages usually absent, or rarely every minute and setaceous. Inflorescence usually in the forks of branches, cymose, with clusters of 3-6 flowers subtended by 4-leaved involucre, rarely flowers solitary and terminal. Flowers sessile, yellow, 5-8 mm across, bracteate; bracts membranous, ovate, c. 3 mm long, acuminate, white or somewhat purplish. Sepals subequal, basally united into a short, 2-3 mm long tube, keeled; lobes 2-3 mm long, slightly hooded, margin broad membranous, acute, deciduous. Petals 5, deliquescent, slightly united at the base, obovate, 5-6 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide, yellow, emarginate with mucronulate notch. Stamens 7-12, basally somewhat united and adnate to petals, filaments c. 2.5 mm long, sensitive to touch, anthers ovoid. Ovary c. 2 mm long, half embedded in calyx tube, ovoid; style 1.5-2 mm long, stigmas 4-5, sticky, c. 1 mm long. Capsule many-seeded, 6-8 mm long, 3-4 mm in diam. Seeds shining black, c. 0.5-0.8 mm, reniform, testa tuberculate.

Plants annual, glabrous; taproot 2-10 cm. Stems prostrate, succulent; trichomes at nodes and in inflorescence absent or inconspicuous; branches to 56 cm. Leaf blades obovate or spatulate, flattened, 4-28 × 2-13 mm, apex round to retuse or nearly truncate; involucrelike leaves 1-4. Flowers 3-10 mm diam.; petals yellow, oblong, 3-4.6 × 1.8-3 mm; stamens 6-12(-20); stigmas 3-6. Capsules ovoid, 4-9 mm diam. Seeds black or dark brown, orbiculate or elongate, flattened, 0.6-1.1 mm; surface cells ± smooth, granular, or stellate, with rounded tubercles. 2n = 18, 36, 54.

Herbs annual. Stems sometimes flushed red or purple, not articulated, prostrate or decumbent, less often ± erect, diffuse, much branched; leaf axils with a few inconspicuous stiff bristles. Leaves alternate or occasionally subopposite; petiole short; leaf blade flat, obovate, 10-30 × 5-15 mm, base cuneate, apex obtuse, rounded, truncate, or retuse. Flowers in clusters of 3-5, 0.4-0.5 cm in diam., surrounded by involucre of 2-6 bracts. Sepals green, helmeted, ca. 4 mm, apex acute, keeled. Petals 5, yellow, obovate, 3-5 mm, slightly connate at base, apex retuse. Stamens 7-12, ca. 12 mm; anthers yellow. Ovary glabrous. Stigma 4-6-lobed. Capsule ovoid, ca. 5 mm. Seeds glossy black when mature, never iridescent, obliquely globose-reniform, 0.6-1.2 mm; testa cells stellate, usually with central peglike tubercle, sometimes without and then surface ± granular. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jun-Sep.

Pantropical.

Distribution: A cosmopolitan weed in cultivated fields and waste moist places. Probably native of South-West parts of United States and now widely distributed in warm temperate, tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world.

introduced; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ala., Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Europe

300-1500 m

Fl. Per. Flowers open in morning throughout the year.

Flowering late spring-early fall.

Fields, waste places; 0-2800m.

Cultivation, disturbed urban sites. Throughout China [tropical and temperate regions worldwide].

Portulaca neglecta Mackenzie & Bush; P. retusa Engelmann