Purslane is a plant that grows in gardens like a weed. Most people tend to get rid of it as soon as it starts growing, however, this plant offers many benefits that very few people know about. Here are 8 good reasons to grow purslane in your garden:
Purslane is an annual herbaceous plant that forms clumps. It has long, creeping stems and is covered with small, round, oily, soft green leaves. Between July and October it is decorated with small yellow flowers. We taste its fresh leaves that have a slightly acidic and spicy flavor. It grows spontaneously in gardens in the south of France, but it is possible to grow it in your garden, or in a pot, if your terrain does not suit it!
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) extends its succulent stems, whose fleshy tissues are rich in water, at ground level at the end of summer. Mistakenly considered a weed, it is actually one of the oldest vegetable plants. Imported from the East by the Romans, then abandoned over time, it has become naturalized in our gardens. Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, gardener to Louis XIV, had empirically sensed the excellent nutritional properties of purslane and considered it a “healthy salad.” It is also a bioindicator plant, that is, it provides information about the nature of the soil. If it is very present it is because the soil is too compact, lacks air and is deficient in calcium. Also, it testifies to a substrate that is dry in summer and that has difficulty fixing the elements.