[purs-leyn, -lin] 
| 1. | a low, trailing plant, Portulaca oleracea, having yellow flowers, used as a salad plant and potherb. Compare purslane family. |
| 2. | any other plant of the purslane family. |
| purs·lane (pûrs'lĭn, -lān') n. A trailing Asian weed (Portulaca oleracea) having small yellow flowers, reddish stems, and fleshy obovate leaves that are sometimes cooked as a vegetable or used in salads. [Middle English, from Anglo-Norman *purcelane, alteration of Latin portulāca, porcilāca; see portulaca.] |
purslane
any of certain small, fleshy annual plants of the genus Portulaca (40-100 species), of the family Portulacaceae. The plants have prostrate, often reddish stems, with spoon-shaped leaves and flowers that open in the sunlight. The common purslane (P. oleracea), or pusley, is a widespread weed, recognizable by its small yellow flowers. P. oleracea sativa, known as kitchen garden pusley, is grown to some extent as a potherb, mostly in Europe. Rose moss (P. grandiflora), a trailing fleshy species, is cultivated as a garden ornamental for its brightly coloured, sometimes doubled flowers. All plants of the genus are known for their persistence; they grow well even in dry waste soil and can retain enough moisture to bloom and ripen seeds long after they have been uprooted. The capsules, which open by a lid, scatter many small seeds of great longevity.
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