purslane

English

Portulaca oleracea

Alternative forms

• purslain (archaic)

Etymology

From Old French porcelaine, probably an alteration of Latin porcilaca (“purslane”) (related to portulaca (“purslane”)) to assimilate it with porcelaine (“porcelain”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɜːslən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɝslən/

Noun

purslane (usually uncountable, plural purslanes)

1. Any of the family Portulacaceae (order Caryophyllales) of succulent plants.
   • 1767, A Lady [Hannah Glasse], The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Eaſy […] ‎^[1], page 326:

     ASPARAGUS, cauliflowers, imperial Sileſia, royal and cabbage lettuces, burnet, purſlain, cucumbers, naſturtian flowers, peaſe and beans ſown in October, artichokes, ſcarlet ſtrawberries, and kidney beans.

   1. the widely-grown edible plant common purslane or summer purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
   2. moss-rose purslane, moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora)
2. Other similar plants in other families in order Caryophyllales
   1. winter purslane, miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
   2. pink purslane (Claytonia sibirica)
   3. sea purslane
      1. Halimione portulacoides
      2. Honckenya peploides
   4. shoreline purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum)
   5. purslane tree (Portulacaria afra)

Synonyms

• (a succulent of the family Portulacaceae):
• (Portulaca oleracea): common purslane, garden purslane, little hogweed, pigweed, pusley, pussley, verdolaga

Derived terms

• purslane tree (Portulacaria afra)
• water-purslane (Lythrum portula, Ludwigia palustris)
• wild purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

Translations

a plant of the family Portulacaceae

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馬齒莧／马齿苋 (zh) (mǎchǐxiàn)

• Finnish: portulakka (fi)
• French: pourpier (fr) m
• German: Portulak (de) m
• Hungarian: porcsin (hu), portuláka
• Portuguese: portulaca (pt) f, beldroega (pt) f
• Spanish: verdolaga f
• Tagalog: kulasiman, alusiman

Portulaca oleracea — see common purslane

Further reading

• purslane on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Portulacaceae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Portulacaceae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• supernal