Everyone knows this weed. It’s everywhere, it’s opportunistic and promiscuous, sneaking into every conceivable spot from paver gaps to veggie gardens and paddocks, but few people know much about it. I get asked almost daily what it is.
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Purslane - portulaca oleracea – is also known as verdolaga, pigweed, little hogweed, red root and pursley. It’s an annual succulent and sometimes gets as tall and wide as 40cm.
It has a massive distribution, from North America to Southern Europe through the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent and Australasia. Purslane has a long history, with evidence found in deposits in an Ontario lake from 1350-1539, suggesting that it was in America in the pre-Columbian era and eaten by native Americans.
It has a succulent type appearance with smooth red stems. It has yellow flowers and depending on rainfall, the flowers can appear at any time of the year. Purslane has a taproot and tolerates compacted soils and drought very well.
In antiquity, Pliny the Elder considered purslane’s healing properties so reliable that he advised wearing it in an amulet to expel evil.
Although considered a weed in Australia, it may be eaten as a vegetable. In Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Mexico it is used in salads and stir-fries with a slightly sour and salty taste. Its stems, leaves and flowers are all edible and due to its succulent like foliage it is also suitable for stews and soups.
Australian Aborigines use the purslane seeds to make seed cakes. Greeks, who call it andrakla or glystrida use the stems and leaves with feta, olive oil, tomato, onion, garlic and oregano. In Turkey along with using it in salads they bake it in pastries and cook it like spinach. Egyptians, call it reglah, and cook it as a vegetable stew.
In Chinese medicine its leaves are used for insect or snake bites on the skin, boils, sores, bee stings, dysentery, diarrhoea, haemorrhoids, and intestinal bleeding.
Nutritionally, purslane contains more omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants than any other vegetable. It also contains vitamins A, C and E, vitamin B, carotenoids and minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron.
As you can see, this weed is quite an extraordinary plant. I have a ‘green juicing’ friend that adds it to his blend. Not my cup of tea, but an interesting plant none the less.
