Annual Pink Portulaca: wildflower or weed?

Jul 11, 2021
Jul 11, 2021
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2 min to read

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One man’s weed is his wife’s pretty wildflower. Gina Pateracki, office manager at Green Earth wholesale Nursery on County Road 484 in Hernando, solved the family discussion by donating these two pots of portulacas to Jane. After researching the University of South Florida’s website at florida.plantatlas.usf.edu and then posting the photo on Native Florida Plants Identified on Facebook, a member identified them as non-native Paraguayan Portulaca amilis.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

This Paraguayan Portulaca has elongated oval leaves they are thick and succulent but not cylindrical looking like Florida’s native Pink Portulaca, Portulaca pillosa. The deep rose-pink flowers are about a half inch in diameter. There are five petals that look like P. pillosa.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Native Pink Portulaca growing in the mowed grass at Green Earth Wholesale Nursery in Hernando. Note the plant leaves are mowed off but the pretty annual wildflower continues to flower. Winter freezes will kill the plant, but seedlings will sprout next season. Small skipper butterflies feed on the nectar and bees and wasps visit for pollen.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

These fading flowers in a big box retail nursery had a tag saying the plant was Portulaca oleraceae, which is native to Florida and has yellow flowers. These flowers were larger than a half-inch and the leaves were plump and fat, but not hairy or cylindrical. To Jane, it looked more like Paraguayan Portulaca. Buyers need to be practical and realize some species can be confused for others that are similar. Overall plant tags are usually accurate these days — an improvement over just a few years ago. Nursery growers are much better educated and informed. Most are skilled at internet research and conscientious about correct plant names.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Pretty Paraguayan Portulaca is a drought- and heat-tolerant annual plant sold in retail nurseries. It is a trailing annual used in hanging baskets and planters. It will not survive winter frost and freezing temperatures. Even Jane has a difficulty differentiating between non-native Paraguayan and native Pink Portulaca.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

The lovely, colorful portulaca readily available in retail nurseries are tagged as Portulaca grandiflora. Commonly called moss rose, it is a popular South American ornamental garden plant. Low-maintenance, drought- and heat-tolerant, this annual evolved in the hot, dry plains of Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay (not Mexico).

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Low-maintenance, drought- and heat-tolerant, this annual large-flowered Portulaca grandiflora evolved in the hot, dry plains of Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay. A few older gardeners still mistakenly call it Mexican portulaca. Large-flowered cultivars are grown globally for their showy summer flowers. Covered with flowers all summer and into the fall, this portulaca grows in full sun in dry, hot climates. Each seedling plant has only one flower color. Due to cross pollination, seedlings grown from seeds may have different colored flowers than the parent.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Call this color salmon pink or pale orange — it makes a striking plant in a hanging basket, planter or when used to border a planting bed. If there are different colored flowers in the nursery pot, there are different plants. To separate the tangled roots of the seedlings with minimal taring or damage, Jane prefers to soak the pot briefly in water then remove the plant and gently swish it in the water. Just like untangling a child’s hair, the roots will separate in the water. All soil will be washed away. Place the roots in a pre-dug hole in amended, sandy but humus-rich soil and gently backfill over the roots. Flush with water to wash soil among the roots. Do not tamp, step or push on the roots as that will damage them.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Large-flowered colorful South American Portulacas are readily available at retail nurseries around the world. Grandiflora literally translates from the Latin to “big flower” in English. Flowers close at night, in the shade, afternoon and when banks of cloud pass by. It may flower year-round in South Florida but is killed by hard winter freezes further north.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Flowers are up to an inch or more in diameter on Portulaca grandiflora cultivars. Gardeners use large-flowered portulaca cultivars as annuals in rock gardens, hanging baskets, patio planters, summer groundcover and to edge planting beds. Plant height is about 6 to 9 inches with a spread of 1 to 2 feet before frost comes in late fall in Central Florida.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Yellow portulacas flower from summer through autumn until frosts kill the plant in Central Florida. Each flower is short-lived and fades as seeds begin to develop. Spent flower petals will shed naturally and are barely noticeable as new flowers open in succession. Flowering lasts for months from summer through autumn. Frosts will kill portulacas, so they are considered annuals. In South Florida and frost-free climates, portulacas can flower year-round.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Portulacas are not a moss nor are they a rose. However, old-time gardeners made up the name “moss rose” for this plant. Portulaca is the genus name that is nowadays used as a common name. Each portulaca flower lasts a few days then fades as seeds begin to develop. Spent flower petals shed naturally and are barely noticeable as new flowers open in succession. Flowering lasts for months from summer through autumn. Frosts will kill portulacas, so they are considered annuals. In South Florida and frost-free climates portulacas can flower year-round.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

This is a range map showing distribution in Florida of native Portulaca pillosa. Jane added a text box showing the plant name and crediting the UFS source. She keeps a computer file full of plant range maps showing plant distribution in Florida and in the U.S.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Homeowners can look up any plant that grows in Florida at the University of South Florida’s website at florida.plantatlas.usf.edu. Type in the plant name and its page will pop up with up-to-date science-based information, a range map, and photos. This range map shows the distribution of naturalized, nonnative Paraguayan Portulaca, Portulaca amilis. It is not considered invasive nor does it disrupt natural habitats or ecosystems.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

Yellow-flowered portulaca or Little Hogweed, Portulaca oleracea, is considered a native species, although was once thought to be a non-native, introduced species. It formerly had up to 36 different binomial names until modern testing revealed they are the same species. It grows throughout Florida in suitable dry land habitats. Its leaves have one of the richest known sources of a-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid.

Jane Weber/Special to the Chronicle

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JANE'S GARDEN

There are over 100 species of flowering plants in the Portulaca genus of the family Portulacaceae that evolved in North, Central and South America. Some species are tropical. Others grow in subtropical or warm temperate regions like Florida. Further north, freezing kills portulacas, but some grow as annuals from self-sown seed. Formerly called purslanes, several portulaca species are edible plants.

Six portulaca species grow in Florida. Four are native to Florida as well as two closely related native species in the same family: Shoreline Seapurslane, Sesuvium portulacastrum and Desert Horseperslane, Trianthema portulacastrum.

Chickens and wild birds like quail and turkey eat portulaca leaves and flowers. Some Portulaca species are used as food by Lepidoptera larvae including Checkered White butterfly caterpillars, Pontia protodice, and nutmeg moth caterpillars.

Native Pink Portulaca or Kiss-Me-Quick, Portulaca pillosa, formerly had 18 differing names in different regions around the world. Modern science now reveals they are all P. pillosa. It flowers year round from cold zone 10 and southward. Its deep rose-pink flowers have five petals and are about 1/3 inch in diameter with pollen-tipped yellow stamens in the center. They usually close in the heat of the day, when in the shade or when the cloud cover gets thick during afternoon rainstorms. Pollinators include bees, wasps and small skipper butterflies.

Lifelong Citrus County nurseryman Ray Pateracki at Green Earth Wholesale Nursery on County Road 486 in Hernando considers this plant an unwanted weed. His office manager and wife Gina Pateracki thinks of the herbaceous plant as a pretty native wildflower and had two pots of them outside her office door. Pink Portulaca filled Gina’s pots with a mound of low-growing succulent leaves and masses of flowers.

By definition, a weed is a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants. Ray’s weed was unwanted in the thousands of potted plants at Green Earth. Gina appreciated them as colorful flowering plants. I was happy to take Gina’s potted pink portulacas as a gift. Under bright daylight LED lights inside my front door, the portulacas bloomed for days while tropical storm Elsa blew over. In my opinion, all my weeds are wildflowers — I have a concrete plaque that says so.

Native Pink Portulaca has rounded, somewhat cylindrical, succulent leaves with hairy stems. It has a smaller overall size than nonnative Paraguayan portulaca that has flatter, longer leaves. The native grows as a self-seeded annual in the mowed greenspace that doubles as a firebreak surrounding my home. It soon flowers as a groundcover after mowing at 4 inches blade height every two weeks during the summer rainy season.

Yellow-flowered portulaca or Little Hogweed, Portulaca oleracea, is considered a native species although was once thought to be non-native or introduced. It formerly had up to 36 different binomial names until recent scientific testing revealed they are the same species. It grows throughout Florida and the Southeastern Coastal Plain in suitable dryland habitats. Leaves are dark green, roundish-to-oval and thick and succulent. Its leaves have one of the richest known sources of a-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid.

Native Tiny Portulaca, P. minuata, is rare and restricted to Monroe County’s Florida Keys and the Bahamas. It has purple-pink plump leaves and tiny, inconspicuous flowers. Overall, the species is minuscule.

Ornamental Portulaca grandiflora, sometimes called moss rose, is a popular South American ornamental garden plant. Low-maintenance, drought- and heat-tolerant, this annual evolved in the hot, dry plains of Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay (not Mexico). Cultivars are grown globally for their showy summer flowers. Covered with flowers all summer and into the fall, Portulaca grandiflora grows in full sun in dry, hot climates. Flowers close at night, in the afternoon and when banks of cloud pass by. It may flower year-round in South Florida but is killed by hard winter freezes further north. Gardeners use it as an annual in rock gardens hanging baskets, patio planters, summer groundcover and to edge planting beds. Plant height is about 6 to 9 inches with a spread of 1 to 2 feet.

Jane Weber is a professional gardener and consultant. Semi-retired, she grows thousands of native plants. Contact her at jweber12385@gmail.com or phone 352-249-6899.