Aizoaceae FAMILY

Trianthema portulacastrum

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

The young tops and leaves are sometimes eaten, but, especially if older leaves are eaten, the plant may cause diarrhoea or paralysis^{[1, 2]}. The seeds are harmful contaminants in food grains and other crop seeds^{[1, 2]}.

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual

Growth—

The plant has escaped from cultivation and become an aggressive weed in many parts of the tropics^{[3, 2]}. A fast growing plant, it starts to produce flowers and seeds 20 - 30 days after germination^[2].

Propagation

Seed - sown in situ, it germinates at temperatures between 20 - 45°c, with an optimum at 35°c^[2]. More than 50% of fresh seeds germinate within 4 - 8 days of incubation^[2]. When stored under field conditions, germination increases during 7 - 8 months^[2]. Optimum sowing depth is 1cm^[2]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Trianthema+portulacastrum>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
[2]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
[3]Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk — http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html ↩︎A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands.
[4]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.