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Vascular Plants of California
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Portulaca oleracea
PURSLANE


Higher Taxonomy
Family: PortulacaceaeView Description 
Common Name: PURSLANE FAMILY
Habit: Annual to perennial herb, generally fleshy. Stem: [1]several to many, spreading [to erect], generally glabrous. Leaf: simple, alternate or opposite, linear, obovate, spoon-shaped, [elliptic, +- round], flat or cylindric, hairs in axils, inconspicuous or not [0], upper 2--5 forming involucre. Inflorescence: flowers 1 or clustered at stem tips. Flower: bisexual, radial; sepals 2, fused at base, lower part fused to ovary and generally persistent in fruit; petals [4]5[7], fused at base, forming ring, yellow [magenta, rose, orange, white]; stamens 4--20[> 20], epipetalous or not, anthers yellow; ovary 1/2-inferior, chamber 1, ovules several to many, placenta free-central; style branches [2]3--6[12]. Fruit: capsule, circumscissile. Seed: many, reniform, +- tubercled, black, gray, [brown, +- blue].
Genera In Family: 1 genus, +- 100 species: +- worldwide, especially tropics, subtropics some cultivated (Portulaca grandiflora Hook.; Portulaca umbraticola Kunth). Note: All other California genera previously in this family now in Montiaceae.
eFlora Treatment Author: Gilberto Ocampo
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: PortulacaView DescriptionDichotomous Key



Etymology: (Probably Latin: small gate or door, from capsule lid)
Reference: Matthews 2004 FNANM 4:496--501
Unabridged Reference: Danin et al. 1978 Israel J Bot 27:177--211; Legrand 1962 Anales Mus Hist Nat (Montevideo) 2a ser 7(3):1--147
Portulaca oleracea L.
NATURALIZED
Habit: Annual, +- perennial herb. Stem: spreading, 3--40 cm. Leaf: 3--30 mm. Inflorescence: flowers 1--8. Flower: sepals 2.5--5 mm, green or +- red; petals 3--5 mm, yellow; stamens 5--12[20]; style branches 3--6. Fruit: 2--4.5 mm wide. Seed: 0.6--1 mm wide, dark brown to black. Chromosomes: 2n=18,36,54.
Ecology: Disturbed soil; Elevation: < 2100 m. Bioregional Distribution: CA; Distribution Outside California: probably native to eastern hemisphere, widely naturalized elsewhere. Flowering Time: Apr--Oct
Synonyms: Portulaca granulato-stellulata (Poelln.) Ricceri & Arrigoni; Portulaca nitida (Danin & H.G. Baker) Ricceri & Arrigoni; Portulaca oleracea subsp. granulato-stellulata (Poelln.) Danin & H.G. Baker; Portulaca oleracea subsp. nitida Danin & H.G. Baker; Portulaca oleracea subsp. oleracea; Portulaca oleracea subsp. papillato-stellulata Danin & H.G. Baker; Portulaca papillato-stellulata (Danin & H.G. Baker) Danin; Portulaca retusa Engelm.
Unabridged Note: Evidence indicates that Portulaca oleracea is not monophyletic. Some specimens found in DMoj seem to belong to either Portulaca oleracea subsp. impolita Danin & H.G. Baker or to a lineage more close related to Portulaca johnstonii Henrickson; study needed.
Jepson eFlora Author: Gilberto Ocampo
Reference: Matthews 2004 FNANM 4:496--501
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Portulaca halimoides
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botanical illustration including Portulaca oleracea

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Citation for this treatment: Gilberto Ocampo 2012, Portulaca oleracea, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=39530, accessed on April 19, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 19, 2024.

Portulaca oleracea
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©2008 Keir Morse
Portulaca oleracea
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©2020 Neal Kramer
Portulaca oleracea
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©2020 Neal Kramer
Portulaca oleracea
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©2004 James M. Andre
Portulaca oleracea
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©2019 Neal Kramer

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Geographic subdivisions for Portulaca oleracea:
CA
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map of distribution 1
(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).





 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.
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CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).