Common Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

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Portulaca oleracea - Wikipedia
Portulaca oleracea - USDA PLANTS Database
Portulaca oleracea - Nutrition and You
Purslane - Foraging Texas

Duration: Annual

Native to: Mediterranean, middle east, India

Edibility: All Parts

Status in Yard: moderate presence

Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a common and very nutritious plant that I find in small patches in my front yard. Larger whole clumps of it also appeared in my raised garden beds in 2016. So far I have only tasted small bits of it at a time.

Here is a small patch in the front yard grass on October 19, 2014. The purslane is the plant with the succulent, teardrop-shaped leaves. The near-circular leaves are dichondra.

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Common purslane with flowers and flower buds on July 4, 2016

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In 2018 and 2019, purslane has grown in many patches around the back yard. I couldn't eat it fast enough to make good use of all that is there. Large patches of seedlings suddenly appeared in the path between two beds in August 2019. The cotyledons look very similar to the first true leaves, but are slightly less rounded.