Flora of New Zealand Series

water purslane

Glabrous annual; stems creeping, pinkish, rooting at nodes, often mat-forming. Lvs opposite, shortly petiolate. Lamina 3-12 × 2-8 mm, obovate or suborbicular, entire, somewhat succulent; base attenuate; apex rounded. Fls solitary, ± subsessile, monomorphic. Bracteoles > pedicel. Calyx 1.2-1.5 mm long; tube broad-campanulate; teeth membranous and pinkish except for green margins and mid-vein, acuminate with dark apex; epicalyx segments subulate, green or pink, = or > calyx teeth. Petals 0 (possibly sometimes minute). Stamens 6, always included. Style always very short. Capsule included, c. 2 mm diam., subglobose, membranous, often pinkish. Seed 0.5-0.6 mm long, flat on one face, convex on the other.

N.: around Rotorua, and the Waihou R. (near Tirau); S.: around Lake Waihola (near Dunedin), and along several rivers in S. Otago and Southland.

Europe 1899

Very local on mud in swamps, watercourses, riversides and lakesides, often where the substrate dries out periodically.

FL Dec-Feb.

Because of its insignificant appearance water purslane has probably sometimes been overlooked by collectors. It is usually known as Peplis portula L., but the characters used to separate Lythrum and Peplis L. are of limited use. The common name water purslane suggests a resemblance to the succulent weed of arable land, Portulaca oleracea, purslane.