PORTULACACEAE (PURSLANE FAMILY) 153 
the corn root louse; also it is sometimes attacked by a white 
mold, which may make it a menace to better plants. 
Stems four inches to more than a foot in length, prostrate, thick, 
round, smooth, succulent, branching on all sides from the central 
root and again often forking. Leaves, alternate, obovate or wedge- 
shaped, with rounded tips, very small, thick, and fleshy, mostly 
clustered at the ends of the branches. Both stems and leaves 
often have a reddish tinge. Flowers solitary, sessile, about a 
quarter-inch broad, opening only in the brightest sunshine; sepals 
two, broad, pointed, keeled; four to six—- mostly five — broadly 
rounded yellow petals, soon falling away; stamens seven to 
twelve; style five- or six-parted. 
Capsule urn-shaped, one-celled, 
membranous, many-seeded, open- 
ing transversely and the top fall- 
ing off like a lid; when near 
maturity, the plants can hardly 
be touched without sowing these 
seeds by hundreds. The weed 
is most tenacious of life, often 
readjusting itself after having 
been torn up bodily, the fleshy 
stems, and leaves sustaining it 
while doing so, if not placed 
where the feat is impossible. 
(Fig. 103.) 
Means of control 
Killing while in the seedling 
Buage by constant shallow hoeing Fie. 103. — Purslane (Portulaca ole- 
is the only way of vanquishing racea). XX. 
this weed. If old enough for seed- 
cones to begin to form, plants should be removed from the soil, for 
the stems and roots retain life enough to ripen and distribute seed. 
Pigs are very fond of Purslane, and one of those greedy animals will 
dispose of a considerable crop. Or the plants may be thrown on a 
compost heap, where fermentation will destroy the vitality of the seeds. 
