Trianthema portulacastrum

Desert horsepurslane

Family: Aizoaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Desert horsepurslane is a native perennial found in the San Joaquin Valley and Desert regions in moist or seasonally dry wetlands and disturbed areas at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from June to November, this plant produces small flowers with purple-tinged sepals nestled close to its stems. Growing with sprawling stems less than one meter long and marked with lines of delicate hairs, the plant develops distinctive elliptic to round leaves with tapered bases and often notched tips. Its leaves feature widened stipules that occasionally have toothed edges, with leaf blades typically matching the length of their petioles. The fruit is a small cylindrical capsule about 4 to 5 millimeters long with two prominent, erect wings on its lid, containing a single reddish-brown to black seed with distinctive ridges.

Habitat: Uncommon. Moist or seasonally dry wetlands, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Jun-Nov

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: SnJV, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Riverside, San Diego, Imperial, Merced, Tulare, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Kings

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.