Portulaca L.
Glabrous, taprooted, annual or perennial, fleshy herbs. Stems branching, prostrate to ascending, vegetative and reproductive. Lvs many, usually spiralled to subopposite, sometimes opposite, the uppermost whorled below the infl.; axillary hair-tufts present. Infl. terminal, few-flowered, bracteate, or fls solitary. Sepals hooded, the anterior overlapping the posterior. Petals 4-6. Stamens 4-many. Ovary semi-inferior, of 3-8 fused carpels; style branches 3-8. Capsule thin-walled, 1-locular, circumscissile; seeds many.
Key
c. 100 spp., mostly tropical America, but some in the old world or cosmopolitan. Naturalised spp. 2.
