| Trianthema portulacastrum | |
|---|---|
| |
| Conservation status | |
 Secure (NatureServe) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Aizoaceae |
| Genus: | Trianthema |
| Species: | T. portulacastrum |
| Binomial name | |
| Trianthema portulacastrum L. | |
Trianthema portulacastrum is a species of flowering plant in the ice plant family known by the common names desert horsepurslane, black pigweed, and giant pigweed. It is native to areas of several continents, including Africa and North and South America, and present as an introduced species in many other areas. It grows in a wide variety of habitat types and it can easily take hold in disturbed areas and cultivated land as a weed.
This species is a host plant for the beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus).
Description
It is an annual herb forming a prostrate mat or clump with stems up to a meter long. It is green to red in color, hairless except for small lines of hairs near the leaves, and fleshy. The leaves have small round or oval blades up to 4 centimeters long borne on short petioles. Solitary flowers occur in leaf axils. The flower lacks petals but has purple, petallike sepals. The fruit is a curved, cylindrical capsule emerging from the stem. It is up to half a centimeter long and has two erect, pointed wings on top, where the capsule opens.
Seed dispersal occurs in a number of ways. One seed may be carried on the detached cap of the fruit, which floats on water. Other seeds may fall out of the remaining part of the fruit or remain on the plant after it dies and withers, resprouting the following season.
References
- NRCS. "Trianthema portulacastrum". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- "Trianthema portulacastrum". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- ^ Trianthema portulacastrum. Flora of North America.
External links
| Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Trianthema portulacastrum |
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 | This Aizoaceae article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
- NatureServe secure species
- Trianthema
- Flora of the Southwestern United States
- Flora of the South-Central United States
- Flora of the Southeastern United States
- Flora of Mexico
- Flora of Central America
- Flora of western South America
- Flora of the Indian subcontinent
- Plants described in 1753
- Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
- Aizoaceae stubs