Common purslane Portulaca oleracea L.
Family: Portulaceae (Purslane family)
Life cycle: Annual
Habitat: Gardens, landscape beds, vegetable production
General description: Prostrate, mat forming plant reaching diameter of 20 in. Thick succulent stems and leaves; stems often red colored; leaves alternate or opposite, club shaped. Small, yellow flowers form in leaf axils and in clusters at stem terminals.
Key ID traits: Succulent stems and leaves; prostrate growth habit.
Similar species: The mat forming habit is similar to prostrate knotweed and spurge, but the succulent stems and leaves of purslane are unique.
Miscellaneous: Purslane is commonly used as a leafy vegetable. The plant has a sour taste to to oxalic and malic acids in the plant. Plant parts capable of reestablishing themselves after being pulled or hoed out of soil. Moss rose is a cultivated species in same genus commonly used in flower beds.
- Retired Weed Scientist and Professor of Agronomy
- Field Agronomist in Central Iowa