Portulaca oleracea
Content
- <<<Habit>Stems>Hairs>Length
- <<<Leaves>Blade>Shape>Dimensions
- <<<Sepals>Stamens>Anthers>Length
- <<<Sepals>Stamens>Anthers>Shape
- <<<Sepals>Stamens>Filaments>Length
- <<Fruits>Seeds>Colour
- <<Fruits>Seeds>Shape
- <<Fruits>Seeds>Texture
- <<Fruits>Seeds>Width
- <<Habit>Stems>Colour
- <<Habit>Stems>Growth form
- <<Habit>Stems>Hairs
- <<Habit>Stems>Length
- <<Leaves>Blade>Hairs
- <<Leaves>Blade>Shape
- <<Leaves>Blade>Texture
- <<Leaves>Petiole>Length
- <<Sepals>Ovary>Shape
- <<Sepals>Ovary>Stigmatic branch number
- <<Sepals>Petals>Colour
- <<Sepals>Petals>Dimensions
- <<Sepals>Petals>Petal number
- <<Sepals>Petals>Shape
- <<Sepals>Stamens>Anthers
- <<Sepals>Stamens>Filaments
- <<Sepals>Stamens>Stamen number
- <Fruits>Dimensions
- <Fruits>Relative dimensions
- <Fruits>Seeds
- <Fruits>Shape
- <Habit>Root system
- <Habit>Stems
- <Inflorescences>Flower number per cluster
- <Inflorescences>Position
- <Leaves>Blade
- <Leaves>Petiole
- <Leaves>Stipules
- <Sepals>Colour
- <Sepals>Dimensions
- <Sepals>Ovary
- <Sepals>Petals
- <Sepals>Shape
- <Sepals>Stamens
- Common Name
- Description
- Distribution
- Fruits
- Habit
- Individuals Association
- Inflorescences
- Leaves
- Notes
- Sepals
- Uses
<<Leaves>Blade>Shape
flat, elliptical, obovate or spathulate, , obtuse or truncate at apex, cuneate at base15
15. 002-003-002
Common Name
Boni (French Guiana): posin Creole (French Guiana): croupier, croupier blanc English (French Guiana): akusinami, posen, pourpier English (Guyana): hog bhajee English (Suriname): bembe, gron-posren, gron-possie, krokot, lonia, piendjalang, porselein, pose, postelein
Description
Annual herb, succulent; fibrous-rooted; stems prostrate or decumbent, spreadingto 30(-50) cm long, purplish, glabrous or with few nodal hairs of ca. 1 mm long. Leaves alternate, upper leaves often opposite; stipules inconspicuous, minutely fimbriate or absent; petiole 1-8 mm long; blade fleshy, flat, elliptical, obovate or spathulate, 0.6-4 x 0.2-2 cm, obtuse or truncate at apex, cuneate at base, glabrous. Inflorescence of terminal, solitary or clustered, sessile or subsessile flowers, clusters of up to 10 flowers. Sepals green, broadly ovate to orbicular-ovate or triangular, 2.8-5 x 2.8-4 mm, broadly keeled above, united at base, usually persistent; petals yellow, 4-5, obovate, 3-8 x 1.5-3 mm, ephemeral; stamens 6-20, filaments 1.5-1.75 mm long, anthers broadly oblongoid or globose, 0.4-0.5 mm long; ovary half-inferior, ovoid or short-conical, stigmatic branches 4-6. Fruit broadly ovoid to fusiform, ca. 4-5 x ca. 2.5 mm, circumscissile from ca. 1/3 up from base, to near middle; seeds black, cochleate, ca. 0.5-0.8 mm wide, very finely and minutely granulate or tuberculate.
Distribution
Guianas present, Old World tropics
Subcosmopolitan weed, indigenous to the Old World tropics and introduced elsewhere; in the Guianas on disturbed ground; 79 collections studied, all from the Guianas (GU: 20; SU: 39; FG: 20).
Individuals Association
Suriname, Along road from Nieuw Nickerie to the sea, Wessels Boer 529
Guyana, Kanuku Mts., Nappi-head on Nappi Cr., Camp 1, Jansen-Jacobs et al. 665
Suriname, Paramaribo, way to Kwatta, Samuels 330
Iles de Salut, Ile Royale, Cremers 8433
Guyana, Rupununi R., Monkey Pond landing, SW of Mt. Makarapan, Maas et al. 7635
Guyana, Pomeroon Distr., Waramuri Mission, Moruka R., de la Cruz 2564
Maripasoula, Sauvain 623
Route de Baduel, Ile de Cayenne, Hoff 5709
Suriname, Lower Saramacca R. near Plantation Catharina Sophia, Lanjouw 277
Inflorescences
Inflorescence of , solitary or clustered, sessile or subsessile flowers, clusters of flowers.46
46. 003
Notes
No seemingly authentic Guianan specimens of Portulaca mucronata Link , (cited for the Guianas, e.g. by Lemée (1955) and Grenand (1987) for French Guiana), have been seen in this study; it is a South American yellow-flowered plant with mucronate leaves, resembling P. oleracea .
Uses
Sometimes cultivated as a leafy vegetable in Suriname, and the leaves also mixed with sugar or soap and used for ripening abscesses (Ostendorf, 1962). In French Guiana, the Palikur Amerindians crush the leaves and stems in water, and drink the resulting liquid as an hypotensive, whereas French Guianan Creoles use a tea of the plant as an antidiabetic (e.g., Ducatillon & Gelly 49) and digestive. They also use the whole plant as an emollient for muscular aches and make a purgative and a drink for albuminuria from the plant (Grenand et al., 1987).