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  

/ -ˈleɪkə, ˌpɔːtjʊˈlækə /

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

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

Abundance of portulaca grew near our halting place, and furnished us with an agreeable vegetable; this plant was afterwards found over the whole of Northern Australia, and proved a very valuable article of food.

From Journals of Australian Explorations by Gregory, Augustus Charles

In the spaces between ran a riot of portulaca and nasturtiums, while in the more regular, shell-bordered beds grew spirea and gillyflowers, mignonette, marigolds, and clove pinks.

From New Chronicles of Rebecca by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith

"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 Stratton-Porter, Gene