VOL. II.] PURSLANE FAMILY. 



i. Portulaca oleracea L,. Purslane. Pussley. (Fig. 1434.) 



Portulaca oleracea L. Sp. PI. 445. 1753. 



Annual, prostrate, freely branching from a 

 deep central root, branches 4 / -io / long. 

 Leaves alternate and clustered at the ends of 

 the branches, obovate or cuneate, 3 // -io" 

 long, rounded at the apex, very fleshy; flower- 

 buds flat; flowers solitary and sessile, 2 // -3 // 

 broad, yellow, opening in bright sunshine for 

 a few hours in the morning; sepals broad, 

 keeled, acutish; style 4-6-parted; capsule 3"- 

 5" long; seeds finely rugose, about %" long. 



In fields and waste places, common through- 

 out our area, and in warm and tropical America. 

 Native in the southwest, but naturalized north- 

 ward. Widely naturalized as a weed in the 

 warmer parts of the Old World. Summer. 



2. Portulaca retusa Engelm. Notched 

 Purslane. (Fig. 1435.) 



Porttilata n-htsa Engelm. Bost. Jouni. Nat. Hist. 6: 

 154. 1850. 



Closely resembles the preceding species. Leaves 

 cuneate, generally broader, mostly retuse or emar- 

 ginate, but some of them rounded ; sepals broad, ob- 

 tusish, cariuate-winged; style larger, 3-4-cleft; cap- 

 sule 2 // -3 // long; seeds distinctly tuberculate, nearly 

 l /z" long; petals smaller than those of P. oleracea 

 and the flowers opening earlier in the morning than 

 those of that species, where the two grow together. 



Minnesota (?), Missouri and Arkansas, to Texas, 

 west to Nevada. Growing in large patches, sometimes 

 several feet in diameter. Summer. 



3. Portulaca pilosa L,. Hairy Portulaca. 

 (Fig. 1436.) 



Portulaca pilosa I,. Sp. PI, 445. 1753. 



Annual, spreading or ascending from a deep root, 

 more or less densely pilose-pubescent, with small 

 tufts of light-colored hairs in the axils of the leaves. 

 Branches 2 / -6 / long; leaves linear, terete, obtuse, 4"- 

 8" long, about \" wide, alternate, and clustered at the 

 ends of the branches; sepals oblong acute, membran- 

 ous, not carinate, deciduous with the operculum of the 

 capsule; flowers red, 4 // -6 v/ broad; stamens numerous; 

 style 5-6-parted; seeds minutely tuberculate. 



In dry soil, North Carolina to Florida, Kansas, Texas 

 and Mexico, west to California. Also throughout tropical 

 America. Summer. 



