Common Purslane

Scientific Name - Portulaca oleracea L.
Family - Portulacaceae

Prostrate, succulent summer annual. Leaves alternate or nearly opposite, fleshly, somewhat spoon-shaped. Stems smooth, usually purplish-red. Flowers yellow, solitary in leaf axils or clustered on the ends of stems. Fruit a round capsule, splitting open around the middle. Reproduces by seed. Found throughout the United States, more common in Northwest United States, less common in the Pacific Northwest. Also found in Canada, the West Indies, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Hawaii.