Portulaca quadrifida Seeds | Chickenweed
LATIN NAME: Portulaca quadrifida
COMMON NAME: Chickenweed
Plant Profile
Portulaca quadrifida, better known as Chickenweed, is a perennial in the purslane family. It is a plant of open, sunny, deep, moist, well-drained ground. The flowering period doubles as a feeding season for bees and other pollinators. For the gardener, the sum of these traits is a plant that is easy to live with.
Science & Biotechnology
Like other members of the purslane family, Portulaca quadrifida draws steady attention from botanists and plant breeders, who value the genus both as a subject of research and as a source of garden-worthy material. Its behaviour in gardens is well recorded, thanks to a long history in cultivation.
Uses & Benefits
Gardeners value Chickenweed for its ornamental character, and the plant also fits naturally into herb, vegetable and cutting gardens. Chickenweed is a fine, neat plant of warm garden and study collection. It is a fine, neat plant of open, sunny, deep, moist, well-drained garden. Give young plants deep, moist bed, and neat mats will spread over warm months. In later seasons it demands little more than an appreciative eye.
Purslane is a gourmet weed and a nutritional standout, among the richest leafy sources of omega-3 ALA, eaten from Mexico to the Mediterranean; in Chinese medicine, Ma Chi Xian, it is a classical cooling herb for the gut.
Growing from Seed
Chickenweed grows readily from seed. Sow thinly on the surface of a loose, well-drained seed compost, cover lightly, water in gently and keep the tray in a sunny spot with even moisture. When the young plants are big enough to handle, space them into pots or a nursery row and let them size up before their final move.
Our Take
Chickenweed repays a little patience at sowing time with plenty of garden presence later.
Related Reading
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