portulaca

American  

[pawr-chuh-lak-uh, pohr-] / ˌpɔr tʃəˈlæk ə, ˌpoʊr- /

noun

1. any of various fleshy-leaved plants of the genus Portulaca, especially P. grandiflora, widely cultivated for its showy, variously colored flowers.

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portulaca British  

/ -ˈleɪkə, ˌpɔːtjʊˈlækə /

noun

1. any portulacaceous plant of the genus Portulaca, such as rose moss and purslane, of tropical and subtropical America, having yellow, pink, or purple showy flowers

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Etymology

Origin of portulaca

1540–50; < New Latin, genus name, Latin: purslane

Example Sentences

He liked rarities such as the connoisseur’s rambling rose, Aviateur Bleriot, but he saw the same regal presence in a humble nasturtium or that fleshy summer annual no longer in vogue, portulaca.

From Washington Post • Sep. 28, 2021

To approximate the colors with which pious artisans glorified God at Chartres and Poitiers, Artist Saint has cooked up messes of egg-yolk, hollyhock, calendula and portulaca.

From Time Magazine Archive

"I use portulaca powder and tiger lily bullets on the tigers, and four o'clocks on the lions," I said.

From Laddie; a true blue story by Stratton-Porter, Gene

I went into the garden and gathered every ripe touch-me-not pod I could find, and all the portulaca.

From Laddie; a true blue story by Stratton-Porter, Gene

She leaned over the porch railing and stared down into the bed of gay portulaca that Grandmother tended with such care both night and morning.

From Black-Eyed Susan by Phillips, Ethel Calvert