Species

Lythrum portula

Common Name(s)

water purslane

Authority

Lythrum portula (L.) D. Webb

Family

Lythraceae

Brief Description

Creeping mat-forming herb, with pinkish paired round leaves along horizontal creeping stems, rooting where leaf bearing stems touch the soil, flowers inconspicuous at the base of leaf pairs up to 2.5 cm across.

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

LYTPOR

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Distribution

Scattered from Waikato, Rotorua Lakes, Westland, Otago and Southland.

Habitat

On bare mud on the margins of water bodies.

Features

Glabrous annual; stems creeping, pinkish, rooting at nodes, often mat-forming. Lvs opposite, shortly petiolate. Lamina 3-12 × 2-8 mm, obovate or suborbicular, entire, somewhat succulent; base attenuate; apex rounded. Fls solitary, ± subsessile, monomorphic. Bracteoles > pedicel. Calyx 1.2-1.5 mm long; tube broad-campanulate; teeth membranous and pinkish except for green margins and mid-vein, acuminate with dark apex; epicalyx segments subulate, green or pink, = or > calyx teeth. Petals 0 (possibly sometimes minute). Stamens 6, always included. Style always very short. Capsule included, c. 2 mm diam., subglobose, membranous, often pinkish. Seed 0.5-0.6 mm long, flat on one face, convex on the other.

Similar Taxa

Unlike other mat forming plants of exposed mud.

Flowering

Summer

Flower Colours

Green,Red / Pink

Fruiting

Autumn

Year Naturalised

1899

Origin

Europe and Western Asia

Reason for Introduction

Unknown, seed or soil contaminant.

Control Techniques

Not controlled in New Zealand.

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Seed dispersed by water, animals or contaminated machinery.

Attribution

Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA). Features description Webb et al. (1988).

References and further reading

Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. (1988). Flora of New Zealand Volume 4: Naturalisedpteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch.

Popay et al (2010).  An illustrated guide to common weeds of New Zealand, third edition.  NZ Plant Protection Society Inc, 416pp.

Johnson PN, Brooke PA (1989).  Wetland plants in New Zealand.   DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington. 319pp.

Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G.; Warburg, E.F.  (1962). Flora of the British Isles.  Cambridge University Press, Second Edition.  1269pp.

This page last updated on 21 Aug 2013