Portulaca oleracea (common purslane, also known as little hogweed, or pursley) is an annual (actually tropical perennial in USDA growing zones 10–11) succulent in the family Portulacaceae.
The plant may reach 40 centimetres (16 inches) in height. It has smooth, reddish, mostly prostrate stems, and the leaves, which may be alternate or opposite, are clustered at stem joints and ends. The yellow flowers have five regular parts and are up to 6 millimetres (1⁄4 inch) wide. Depending upon rainfall, the flowers appear at any time during the year. The flowers open singly at the center of the leaf cluster for only a few hours on sunny mornings. The tiny seeds are formed in a pod that opens when the seeds mature. Purslane has a taproot with fibrous secondary roots and can tolerate poor soil and drought.
The fruits are many-seeded capsules. The seed set is considerable; one plant can develop up to 193,000 seeds. The seeds germinate optimally at a temperature above 25 °C; they are light germinators, with even a soil cover of 5 mm having a negative effect on germination
Two varieties are accepted.[1]
- Portulaca oleracea var. delicatula Fosberg – endemic to Aldabra in the Seychelles
- Portulaca oleracea var. oleracea – native to full species range
Purslane has an extensive distribution, assumed to be mostly anthropogenic (or hemerochoric), extending from North Africa and Southern Europe through the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent to Malesia and Australasia. The species status in the Americas is uncertain. In general, it is often considered an exotic weed, but there is evidence that the species was in Crawford Lake deposits (Ontario) in 1350–1539, suggesting that it reached North America in the pre-Columbian era. Scientists suggested that the plant was already eaten by Native Americans, who spread its seeds. How it reached the Americas is currently unknown.
Raw purslane is 93% water, 3% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and contains negligible fat (table). In a 100-gram reference amount, purslane supplies 20 calories, and rich amounts (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin E (81% DV) and vitamin C (25% DV), with moderate content (11–19% DV) of several dietary minerals (table). Purslane is a rich source of alpha-linolenic acid, an essential omega-3 fatty acid.
All parts of purslane are edible raw or cooked. The seeds can be eaten raw or used to make flour.
The plant may be eaten as a leaf vegetable. William Cobbett noted that it was “eaten by Frenchmen and pigs when they can get nothing else. Both use it in salad, that is to say, raw”. It has a slightly sour and salty taste and is eaten throughout much of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Mexico. The stems, leaves, and flower buds are all edible raw or cooked. Purslane may be used fresh as a salad, stir-fried, or cooked as spinach is, and because of its mucilaginous quality it also is suitable for soups and stews. The sour taste is due to oxalic and malic acid, the latter of which is produced through the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) pathway that is seen in many xerophytes (plants living in dry conditions) and is at its highest when the plant is harvested in the early morning.
Aboriginal Australians use the seeds of purslane to make seedcakes. Greeks, who call it andrákla (αντράκλα) or glistrída (γλιστρίδα), use the leaves and the stems with feta cheese, tomato, onion, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. They add it to salads, boil it, or add it to casseroled chicken. In Turkey, besides being used in salads and baked pastries, it is cooked as a vegetable similar to spinach or is mixed with yogurt to form a tzatziki variant. In Egypt, the vegetable is known as regla (رجلة) it is also cooked as a vegetable stew, similar to how spinach and malva (خبيزة) are cooked, but not fresh in salads.In Kurdistan, people commonly make a kind of soup from it called palpina soup (شۆربای پەڵپینە). In the Alentejo region of Portugal, purslane is used for cooking a traditional soup (sopa de beldroegas) which is topped with soaked bread, poached eggs, and/or goats’ cheese. In Mexico and the American Southwest, the plant is consumed as “verdolagas.”
Rosa Canina Tisana sfusa
Rosa Canina Tisana sfusa