Portulaca oleracea
Portulaca oleracea
Semizotu
Diffuse, fleshy annual, ascending or erect, 5-20 cm. Leaves alternate below, often crowded above, elliptic-obovate, cuneate at base, obtuse or truncate, 16-20 cm. Stipules setaceous or represented by a bunch of hairs. Inflorescence ± cymose, flowers 3-6, sessile. 'Sepals' fused at base into a tube, the free lobes fugaceous. 'Petals' 5, slightly fused below, exceeding the sepals, yellow, 4-6 mm, deliquescent. Ovary inferior or inferior, dehiscing by a lid at the point of insertion of the sepals and petals, the funicles persisting and projecting after the seeds have fallen. Seeds black, shiny, papillose. FI. 7-11. Cultivated ground, waste places near s.l.
The species is distributed throughout most of Europe, S.W. Asia, and is probably introduced in many other parts of the world.
