Purslane
Portulaca oleracea
Family · Portulacaceae · Harmless
The low, fleshy plant of summer vegetable gardens, which half the Alentejo cooks in soup and the rest of the country pulls up as a weed. Reddish stems and fat little spoon-shaped leaves.
Fields and pasture · Town and roadside · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known ascommon purslane, pigweed
How to tell it
Prostrate, with thick reddish stems that snap easily, and succulent spoon-shaped leaves. Tiny yellow flowers that open only in the morning. No latex at all.
What it is confused with
Prostrate spurge
Euphorbia prostrata
This is the confusion that matters, because they share the vegetable patch and the low habit. Break a stem: spurge bleeds white latex at once and is toxic; purslane bleeds nothing and its stem is thick and succulent.
What it is for
Purslane soup with cheese and a poached egg is a summer Alentejo dish. It is also eaten raw in salad, and is among the wild plants richest in omega 3.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.