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Portulaca retusa

Common name:		Family:	Portulacaceae
Author:	Engelm.	Botanical references:	43, 235
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Eastern N. America - Missouri to Arkansas and Texas, west to Nevada.
Habitat:	Rocky glades, sands etc[43]. The plants often grow in large patches a metre or more in diameter[235].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	P. neglecta[B,P] P. oleracea[B,CPHOTO,CAL,CAL,,DUTCH,E,G,H,HORTIPLEX,L,Sn1,P] P. oleracea ssp. granulatostellulata[B] P. oleracea ssp. impolita[B] P. oleracea ssp. nicaraguensis[B] P. oleracea ssp. nitida[B] P. oleracea ssp. oleracea[P] P. oleracea ssp. papillatostellulata[B] P. oleracea ssp. stellata[B]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Ancharupa [E], Beldroega [E], Berbin [E], Common Purslane [S,L], Coupe-Pied [E], Coupier [E], Gelang Pasir [E], Green Purslane [H], Krokot [E], Little Hogweed [P], Little-hogweed [B], Ma Ch'Ih Hsien [E], Parpinah [E], Perpine [E], Porcelana [E], Postelein [D], Pourpier [E], Pourpier Commun [E], Purslane [H,E], Semizotu [E], Suberi-Hiyu [E], Verdolaga [E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	retusa = blunt, notched tip
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Caryophyllales. Purslane family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Australia Brazil China Colombia Dominican Republic Gabon Haiti India Iraq Japan Java Kurdistan Lesotho Malaya Mexico Peru Spain Sudan Trinidad Turkey Venezuela
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Arizona.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.2m. . The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves Seed.

Leaves - raw or cooked[61, 105, 161].
Seed - raw or cooked. Ground into a powder and used as a mush[161].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

We have very little information on this species and do not know if it will succeed outdoors in Britain, though we feel it should be possible to grow it either as a hardy or a half-hardy annual. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus.
Prefers a rather dry poor soil in full sun[1, 200].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in situ[200].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Portulaca oleracea (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[L] Scientific and Common Names (some photos) from Lepidoptera and some other life forms
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[S] Image from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
Images from the CalPhoto database.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Portulaca oleracea ssp. oleracea (a possible synonym).

[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for the family Portulacaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[161] Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture.
A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Portulaca+retusa
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