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Chickenweed

Portulaca quadrifida

Also called Chickenweed purslane, Wild purslane, Pursley, Pusley

Chickenweed
Photo: Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0

A low, spreading succulent annual or short-lived subshrub from the tropics, widely grown and collected as a wild green. It thrives in hot, dry, sunny conditions and needs little water.

Family
Portulacaceae (Purslane family)
Grows as
Shrub, Succulent
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly and let the soil dry out between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained, sandy or poor soil; tolerates lean ground.
Temperature
20–35 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Trop. & Subtrop. Old World to SW. Pacific
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Portulaca quadrifida, known as pusley, wild purslane, chicken weed (or chickenweed), single‑flowered purslane, small‑leaved purslane and 10 o'clock plant, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Portulaca, possibly native to Africa, but certainly widespread over the Old World Tropics, and introduced elsewhere. It is collected in the wild and eaten in salads or cooked, and is a favorite fodder for chickens and pigs.

Other Portulaca plants

Rose moss · Little hogweed · Kiss me quick · Purslane

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Portulaca quadrifida 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.

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