''Portulaca lutea'', the native yellow purslane, is a species of ''

Portulaca ''Portulaca'' (, is the type genus of the flowering plant family Portulacaceae, with over 100 species, found in the tropics and warm temperate regions. They are known as the purslanes. Common purslane (''Portulaca oleracea'') is widely consume ...

'' that is indigenous to all of the main islands of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

except for

Kaua'i Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the List of islands of th ...

and is widespread throughout the Pacific Islands.

Ecology

''Portulaca lutea'' is very much like ''

Sesuvium portulacastrum ''Sesuvium portulacastrum'' is a sprawling perennial herb that grows in coastal areas throughout much of the world. It is commonly known as shoreline purslane or (ambiguously) "sea purslane," in English, ''dampalit'' in Tagalog and 海马齿sl in ...

'' , it is a pan tropical, sea-dispersed beach succulent that can spread and even travel as vegetative fragments which are tolerant of salt water and

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

easily on landing. It grows on a variety of soils, including

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

and sand dunes, in coastal areas from sea level to 390 metres above sea level.

Appearance

The leaves are oval to round and range in size to 24 mm long. One to three yellow

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are borne at the ends of the stems. Differs from ''

Portulaca oleracea ''Portulaca oleracea'' (common purslane, also known as little hogweed, or pursley) is an annual (actually tropical perennial in USDA growing zones 10–11) succulent in the family Portulacaceae. Description The plant may reach in height. It ...

'' in having grey bark on old sections & large flowers with petals 12 mm long, and an ovoid fruit opening by a cap that splits off to release the many tiny black seeds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17249231 lutea