''Portulaca halimoides'' is a species of
purslane Purslane is a common name for several mostly unrelated plants with edible leaves and may refer to:
* Portulacaceae, a family of succulent flowering plants, and especially:
** '' Portulaca oleracea'', a species of ''Portulaca'' eaten as a leaf vege ...
known by the common name silkcotton purslane. It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, as well as parts of Central and South America. It is a fleshy annual herb producing a branching stem spreading to a maximum length around 25 centimeters. It is often pink or red in color and there are strands of woolly hairlike
trichome
Trichomes (; ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...
s at nodes along the stem and within the
inflorescence
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
. The thick, cylindrical, blunt-tipped leaves are up to 2 centimeters in length and green to red in color. Flowers occur in clusters of up to 10 at the tips of the stem branches. Each is a few millimeters wide with yellow petals which are sometimes hidden under the two fused, fleshy red
sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106
Etymology
The term ''sepalum'' ...
s. The fruit is a tiny capsule which contains several seeds. The grainlike seeds may be black, grayish, or silvery in color.
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
halimoides
{{Caryophyllales-stub