Purslane
Portulaca oleracea
A succulent summer ‘weed’ eaten as a lemony salad green. Notable among leafy weeds for alpha-linolenic acid in the leaves. Identify vs spurge (which has milky sap).
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
What it is
A succulent summer ‘weed’ eaten as a lemony salad green. Notable among leafy weeds for alpha-linolenic acid in the leaves. Identify vs spurge (which has milky sap).
Identification
Succulent, not milky. Spurge is milky and is not food.
Edible portions
- leaves
- stems
- buds
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. Annual heat weed
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Anywhere, even cracks
- Planting. Usually volunteers. You can also sow culinary types.
- Harvest. Tips before they get too sandy-seedy.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Salad, tzatziki-style, cooked like a succulent green
Nutrition and compounds
- Vitamins (qualitative, well-known associations). vitamin A, vitamin C — not milligram values.
- Plant compounds. alpha-linolenic acid. Presence is not a dose, a cure, or a reason to buy a capsule.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.