Silkcotton Purslane (Portulaca halimoides)
Description
Portulaca halimoides-is a species of-purslane-known by the common name-silkcotton purslane. It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, as well as parts of Central and South America. It is a fleshy annual herb producing a branching stem spreading to a maximum length around 25 centimeters. It is often pink or red in color and there are strands of woolly hairlike-trichomes-at nodes along the stem and within the-inflorescence. The thick, cylindrical, blunt-tipped leaves are up to 2 centimeters in length and green to red in color. Flowers occur in clusters of up to 10 at the tips of the stem branches. Each is a few millimeters wide with yellow petals which are sometimes hidden under the two fused, fleshy red-sepals. The fruit is a tiny capsule which contains several seeds. The grainlike seeds may be black, grayish, or silvery in color.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Caryophyllales
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Family: Portulacaceae
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Genus: Portulaca
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