Portulaca amilis Speg.

Paraguayan Purslane; Broadleaf Pink Purslane

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Paraguayan Purslane is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Purslane family (Portulacaceae). It is native to South America. In Alabama it has been collected from the southern half of the state. Paraguayan Purslane occurs as a lawn weed, in cracks of sidewalks and parking lots, on beaches, and along paths, often in sandy soils. It is an annual with a tap root. The stems are prostrate to erect, branched, succulent, and often reddish in color. There are dense clusters of white hairs at the nodes and in the inflorescence but the stems are otherwise glabrous. Leaves are alternate or congested towards the tips of the stems, oblanceolate to spatulate or obovate in outline, flattened, succulent, and glabrous, with entire margins. Flowers are terminal or axillary. The flowers have 5-7 dark pink to orangish-pink petals. The flowers only open on sunny days and last for a single day. They are largely cleistogamous with self-fertilization occurring in bud, and many flowers set fruit without opening. The fruit is a capsule with many small shiny black seed. Paraguayan Purslane is a C4 species capable of facultative Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM).—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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