Family |
Portulacaceae
Portulaca oleracea
L.
Portulaca oleracea L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 445 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 450, Pl. CLIV, 6; 1966)
Description
Life-form & habit: Hairless annual, rarely persisting longer, with several fleshy, reddish, prostrate stems, 15–60 cm long.
Leaves: Opposite or nearly opposite, the lower sometimes alternate; green, slightly fleshy, obovate-oblong and truncate at the tip, stalkless or very shortly stalked. Stipules reduced to a few bristles.
Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers solitary or in groups of 2–3 at branch forks and in the upper leaf axils. Green, keeled, sepal-like involucral leaves fall after flowering. Petals yellow and short-lived, usually five, occasionally four or six; stamens 8–15 with golden-yellow anthers.
Fruit: Membranous, one-chambered, many-seeded capsule, 3–7 mm long.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Throughout the year.
Habitat & elevation: Cultivated land and waste ground.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Beirut, Qraye, Dimane and Taanayel.
Syrian distribution: Tartous, Damascus, Qneitra, Kessab, Palmyra and Deir ez Zor.
Recorded locations: Bqaatouta.
Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Aldabra, Algeria, Angola, Ascension, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Congo, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Gulf States, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Kriti, Krym, Kuwait, Lebanon-Syria, Liberia, Libya, Madeira, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique Channel Is., Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Réunion, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sicilia, Sierra Leone, Sinai, Socotra, Somalia, Spain, St.Helena, Sudan-South Sudan, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Uganda, Yemen.
Introduced into: Alabama, Alberta, Altay, Amur, Andaman Is., Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arizona, Arkansas, Aruba, Assam, Bahamas, Baltic States, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Borneo, Botswana, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, British Columbia, Buryatiya, California, Cambodia, Cape Provinces, Caroline Is., Cayman Is., Central American Pacific Is., Central European Russia, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Christmas I., Cocos (Keeling) Is., Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Cook Is., Costa Rica, Cuba, Delaware, Denmark, Desventurados Is., District of Columbia, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, East Himalaya, Easter Is., Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, Fiji, Finland, Florida, Free State, French Guiana, Galápagos, Georgia, Gilbert Is., Great Britain, Guatemala, Guyana, Hainan, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, Howland-Baker Is., Idaho, Illinois, India, Indiana, Inner Mongolia, Iowa, Japan, Jawa, Juan Fernández Is., Kamchatka, Kansas, Kazakhstan, Kazan-retto, Kentucky, Kirgizstan, Korea, KwaZulu-Natal, Laccadive Is., Laos, Leeward Is., Lesotho, Lesser Sunda Is., Line Is., Louisiana, Madagascar, Maine, Malawi, Malaya, Maldives, Maluku, Manchuria, Manitoba, Marcus I., Marquesas, Marshall Is., Maryland, Massachusetts, Mauritius, Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nauru, Nebraska, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Nicaragua, Nicobar Is., Niue, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Nova Scotia, Ogasawara-shoto, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Panamá, Paraguay, Pennsylvania, Philippines, Phoenix Is., Pitcairn Is., Primorye, Prince Edward I., Puerto Rico, Qinghai, Queensland, Québec, Rhode I., Rodrigues, Rwanda, Sakhalin, Samoa, Saskatchewan, Society Is., Solomon Is., South Carolina, South China Sea, South Dakota, South European Russia, Southwest Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Suriname, Sweden, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tasmania, Tennessee, Texas, Tibet, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Trinidad-Tobago, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Turkmenistan, Turks-Caicos Is., Tuva, Tuvalu, Ukraine, Uruguay, Utah, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Vermont, Victoria, Vietnam, Virginia, Wake I., Wallis-Futuna Is., Washington, West Himalaya, West Siberia, West Virginia, Western Australia, Windward Is., Wisconsin, Wyoming, Xinjiang, Zambia, Zimbabwe.