Kiss-me-Quick: Portulaca pilosa

One of my favorite weeds in the Florida garden is Portulaca pilosa better known as Kiss-me-Quick, Pink Purslane, Florida Moss Rose, or Hairy Pigweed. This native succulent wildflower is not as aggressive as many other Florida weeds and its kind of pretty when blooming, so it is one of several weeds that I leave in the gardens.  The name Kiss-me-Quick refers to the flowers being open only a short time in the morning.  As soon as they're kissed by some sunshine they close.  

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Its pretty difficult to get an image of an open flower.  They are a very bright shade of pink and the camera prefers to focus on the leaf blades that point in all different directions.

Of all the common names for Portulaca pilosa the Spanish "chisme" (or gossip) perhaps captures the essence of this Florida native:  In summer it spreads as fast as gossip.  The plant propagates both by underground rhizomes, seeds, and broken off pieces of stem.  It also has the ability to lie dormant for many years before sprouting and bursting into bloom.  It is not bothered by summer rains.  Thus, Portulaca pilosa is the perfect wildflower for Florida's hostile sandhills.

Range

Portulaca pilosa is a flowering succulent in the purslane family, Portulacaceae, that is native to the Americas.  Its range extends from the southern United States and the Caribbean as far south as Brazil.  It is a succulent with linear leaves and pink flowers.

Pilose

The name is derived from pilose, which means to be covered with long soft hairs. Portulaca pilosa is a highly variable species. It exhibits morphological variability during development with the immature plants having wider, longer and flatter leaves than its mature counterparts. The mature leaves are narrower, shorter and more hemispheric in cross section.

Description and Distribution

Physical differences may also occur due to the variable habitat that this species can be found in. Plants that grow in an arid environment tend to have the greatest density of hairs. Plants that grow in a moister environment tend to have less hairs. Plants with very dense hair under a certain condition will produce growth with fewer hairs under a moist condition, showing its variability of growth. Habit is also governed by its habitat. Plants growing in moist, warm environments tend to branch rather quickly into a spreading habit, with a secondary growth which is erect. Plants in dry and cool environments do the opposite in that they grow erect first and then branch more slowly. This type has a more compact habit.

Roots and Structures

The carrot-like roots are fibrous to semi-fleshy. The trichomes are rather obvious at the nodes and are in inflorescence. The branch size range from 3-25 centimeters. The leaf blades are linear to oblong-lanceolate, which is intermediate of the two. They can also be terete to hemispheric, with a range of size (5-20 x 1–3 mm). 

Weed or Wildflower?

While some Florida gardeners consider Portulaca pilosa a weed, these hardy succulents are actually related to the ornamental Portulaca grandiflora, moss rose. Both species of Portulaca can thrive in well-drained, nutrient-poor soils, and can handle full-sun locations. The native Portulaca pilosa sports a carrot like tap root that helps its thrive even in sandhills in April and May when temperatures are hot and the rainy season is a distant memory.

Cultivation

Some gardener-bloggers have taken advantage of the abundant “volunteer” purslanes sprouting their yards and repurposed them as a groundcover for difficult sites, similar to how one would plant their cultivated ornamental cousin, P. grandiflora (moss rose). Their successes have been dramatic. I would caution that when moving the plants its best to do it late afternoon or on a cloudy day so that stress can be limited.

Transplanted purslane will knit together nicely, creating an attractive, low-growing groundcover effect. And aside from a minimal amount of weeding to prevent competition, they are essentially maintenance-free.

A purslane-patch is an outside-the-box example of how gardeners can use a plant’s natural evolutionary adaptations to our advantage to solve difficult landscape issues. Whether using native plants like Portulaca, or a cultivated ornamental, following the Florida-Friendly Landscaping concept of matching the right plant, right place can help you create a thriving, low-maintenance landscape with minimal inputs of fertilizer, pesticides, or surplus irrigation.

Ethnobotany

It is possible to make flour out of the plant's ground-up seeds or to sprout the seeds like alfalfa, but purslane's most commonly eaten parts are its tender tips and stems, which are tastiest when picked before flowering. Pinching back the plant at this stage has the added benefit of encouraging new growth, an important feature for those who value the sweetly sour flavor of this underappreciated potherb.

Purslane recipes are many and varied. The raw tips are good in salads and sandwiches but can also be steamed like spinach, stir-fried, pickled, used as a thickener for soups and as an ingredient in a number of baked dishes. Medicinally, the leaves make a soothing poultice for wounds and burns. Native Americans used a juice made out of purslane leaves to relieve earaches and traditional Chinese medicine uses it to treat infections and dysentery. Its syrup purportedly treats dry coughs.

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