EPPO Global Database

• EPPO Code: POROL
• Preferred name: Portulaca oleracea
• Authority: Linnaeus

A plant of ancient cultivation as a leafy vegetable, also used medicinally, possibly originating in Western Asia. The cultivated form has been distinguished as subsp. sativa (q.v.). Both the cultivated and the weed form have become widely distributed in warm temperate areas, notably Mediterranean and Balkan countries, Black Sea, Caucasus, Western Asia, Africa (except south).

The wild form of the species has been shown to be divisible into a number of microspecies, at diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid levels, with differing geographical distribution. Some of these polyploids are hybrids cultivated as ornamentals.