PORTULACACEAE

the purslane family of flowering plants, in the order Caryophyllales, with about 15 genera and 500 species of herbs or small shrubs, native primarily to the Pacific coast of North America and southern South America. Members of the family have leaves that often are fleshy and sometimes form rosettes at the base of the plant. There are no true petals; each flower has two to six sepals (petallike structures). Portulaca is a genus of about 100 species of weedy, small-leaved plants. Rose moss (P. grandiflora), a trailing fleshy species, is cultivated as a garden ornamental for its bright coloured, sometimes doubled flowers. Purslane, or pusley (P. oleracea), is a common garden weed with small yellow flowers and thick, shiny, spoon-shaped leaves. Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) is a white-flowered, slender wild flower sometimes cultivated in wild gardens. Plants of the genus Lewisia, such as bitterroot (L. rediviva), are often planted in rock gardens, as are rock pink (Talinum calycinum) and rock purslane or red maids (species of Calandrinia). Plants of the genus Montia are grown as ornamentals, and the leaves of miner's lettuces, or winter purslane (M. perfoliata), are edible.