Note: This is a project under development. The articles on this wiki are just being initiated and broadly incomplete. You can Help creating new pages.
Portulaca oleracea - Purslane
Dudagorai or Portulaca oleracea (common purslane, also known as verdolaga, pigweed, little hogweed, red root, pursley) is an annual succulent in the family Portulacaceae, which may reach 40 centimetres (16 in) in height.
Approximately forty cultivars are currently grown[1]
Description
It has smooth, reddish, mostly prostrate stems and alternate leaves clustered at stem joints and ends. The yellow flowers have five regular parts and are up to 6 millimetres (0.24 in) wide. Depending upon rainfall, the flowers appear at any time during the year. The flowers open singly at the center of the leaf cluster for only a few hours on sunny mornings. Seeds are formed in a tiny pod, which opens when the seeds are mature. Purslane has a taproot with fibrous secondary roots and is able to tolerate poor compacted soils and drought.
Uses
- Its leaves are used for insect or snake bites on the skin, boils, sores, pain from bee stings, bacillary dysentery, diarrhea, hemorrhoids, postpartum bleeding, and intestinal bleeding.
- Use is contraindicated during pregnancy and for those with cold and weak digestion.
- Although purslane is considered a weed in the United States, it may be eaten as a leaf vegetable.
- The stems, leaves and flower buds are all edible. Purslane may be used fresh as a salad, stir-fried, or cooked as spinach is, and because of its mucilaginous quality it also is suitable for soups and stews.
Common name
- English - Garden Purslane
- Kannada - ದೊಡ್ಡಗೊನಿ ಸೊಪ್ಪು
