portulaca

American  

[pawr-chuh-lak-uh, pohr-] / ˌpɔr tʃəˈlæk ə, ˌpoʊr- /

noun

1. any of various fleshy-leaved plants of the genus Portulaca, especially P. grandiflora, widely cultivated for its showy, variously colored flowers.

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portulaca British  

/ ˌpɔːtjʊˈlækə, -ˈleɪkə /

noun

1. any portulacaceous plant of the genus Portulaca, such as rose moss and purslane, of tropical and subtropical America, having yellow, pink, or purple showy flowers

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Etymology

Origin of portulaca

1540–50; < New Latin, genus name, Latin: purslane

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

portulaca

He liked rarities such as the connoisseur’s rambling rose, Aviateur Bleriot, but he saw the same regal presence in a humble nasturtium or that fleshy summer annual no longer in vogue, portulaca.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 28, 2021

To approximate the colors with which pious artisans glorified God at Chartres and Poitiers, Artist Saint has cooked up messes of egg-yolk, hollyhock, calendula and portulaca.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then there are to be eschscholtzias, dahlias, sunflowers, zinnias, scabiosa, portulaca, yellow violas, yellow stocks, yellow sweet-peas, yellow lupins—everything that is yellow or that has a yellow variety.

From Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth

She leaned over the porch railing and stared down into the bed of gay portulaca that Grandmother tended with such care both night and morning.

From Black-Eyed Susan by Ethel Calvert Phillips

Crossing Broad Street, which wore its look of Sabbath sleepiness, Gabriella hurried on to Hill Street, and saw George waiting for her between the two green-painted urns filled with the summer's fading bloom of portulaca.

From Life and Gabriella The Story of a Woman's Courage by Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow

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