Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Dicotyledon Literature for Portulaca lutea
Lorence & Wagner, 2020.
   Portulacaceae -- The Purslane Family Bibliography
      Portulaca lutea

Common name(s): purslane, `ihi
General Information
DistributionWidespread in the Pacific region from New Caledonia to Pitcairn Island and north to Polynesia and Micronesia.In the Hawaiian Islands, indigenous to Kure, Midway, Lisianski, Laysan, Gardner Pinnacles, French Frigate Shoals, Necker, Nihoa, Ni`ihau, Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i.
















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Habit
Prostrate to weakly ascending, perennial herb; stems to 50 cm long, older stems with a thin, pale, corky layer of secondary growth.
Leaves
Leaves alternate to subopposite, sessile, with a tuft of hairs to 6 mm long in the axil; blade obovate to orbicular, 10‒25 mm long, 7‒15 mm wide.
Flowers
Inflorescences a terminal, congested cyme on leafy or short leafless internodes, 0.5‒3 cm long, 1‒3-flowered, subtended by bracteoles ca. 4 mm long and hairs ca. 2 mm long. Flowers with suborbicular sepals, ca. 7‒9 mm long, center fleshy, keel ca. 4 mm long; petals yellow, broadly obovate to obovate, ca. 10‒12 mm long, apex emarginate to mucronate; stamens (12‒)18‒50, filaments ca. 4 mm long, anthers yellow to red.
Fruit
Fruit ovoid, ca. 7 mm long, circumscissile at ca. ⅓ distance from base.
Seeds
Seeds ca. 1 mm long, cells of the testa smooth to tessellate or slightly tuberculate.
Contributor
Nancy Khan