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

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

"I use portulaca powder and tiger lily bullets on the tigers, and four o'clocks on the lions," I said.

From Laddie; a true blue story by Gene Stratton-Porter

Then lifting her trowel, she returned with a sigh to the sowing of portulaca seeds in her rockery.

From The Miller Of Old Church by Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow

And while we're on the letter 'P' in the seed catalogue," added Mr. Emerson, "order a few packages of single portulaca.

From Ethel Morton's Enterprise by Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke) Smith