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Portulaca grandiflora
Also called Moss-rose Purslane, Moss Rose, Mexican Rose, Eleven O'clock, Sunplant, Garden Portulaca, Garden Purslane
In Singapore: Japanese Rose, Moss Rose, Portulaca, 大花马齿笕, 午时花 (Cultivated in Singapore)
Rose moss is a small, fast-growing succulent annual grown for its bright, rose-like flowers in sunny beds and containers. It needs full sun and very well-drained soil, and it self-seeds readily.
Portulaca grandiflora is a succulent flowering plant in the purslane family Portulacaceae, native to southern Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay and often cultivated in gardens. It has many common names, including rose moss, eleven o'clock, Mexican rose, moss rose, sun rose, rose Jepun, table rose, rock rose, and moss-rose purslane. Despite these names and the superficial resemblance of some cultivars' flowers to roses, it is not a true rose, nor even a part of the rose family or rosid group; rather, it is much more closely related to carnations and cacti.
It is also seen in South Asia and widely spread in most of the cities with old 18th- and 19th-century architecture in the Balkans.
Numerous cultivars have been selected for double flowers with additional petals, and for variation in flower colour, plain or variegated. It is widely grown in temperate climates as an ornamental plant for annual bedding or as a container plant. It requires ample sunlight and well-drained soils. It requires almost no attention and spreads itself very easily. In places with old architecture it can grow between the stones of the road or sidewalk. Seeds are often sold as mixtures, such as Double Flowering Mixture (see illustrations). It grows on sandy soils. In countries with a frost-free climate, it is wild.
Unlike P. oleracea and P. umbraticola, it is not edible because of its bitter taste. There are hybrids of P. grandiflora with P. oleracea, umbraticola and villosa.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Portulaca grandiflora by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
