This article leaves me with more questions than answers.
It seems to be exclusively about P. oleracea but has a pic of P. umbraticola.
What cultivar of P. oleracea did the author grow? Not said but indicated as something other than 'Goldberg', which is in the DB as a cultivar of P. sativa. If it came from a catalog, it should be easy to cite.
Why is "wild" purslane a noxious weed, and in who's opinion?
If this is true, "the richest source of omega-3 fatty acids, which lower lipid levels in the blood, of any vegetable yet examined", only the confused or greedy should be able to call it a weed with a straight face.
The terms "noxious weed" and "edible" seem mutually exclusive, if one is approaching from logic, except maybe for a few things that, though technically edible, do not taste good to a majority of people. Something 1" tall that holds moisture in the soil, shades the soil, is edible & nutritious, can start itself without effort, adds great organic matter back to the soil after frost, has cute little flowers, being served in high-dollar restaurants, is noxious? Who is it harming? What other gardening is "purslane" preventing?
Of course big-Ag would call an easy-to-grow, attractive, edible, nutritious plant a weed. A noxious one. That makes it sound more threatening. They don't make any $ on people easily growing their own food, by any name. Folks who didn't pay for the seeds or flats but were just gifted by nature need to be educated into being much better customers. Most commonly foraged foods are called weeds and they hope you'll believe them, or at least be too embarrassed to continue cultivation, when they tell you your very morality relies on buying one of their 'cides that will kill your noxious food, so you can grow some other plant for which you've properly paid for seeds or started plants if you insist, but preferably you'll just buy all of your food at the grocery. If you want to eat purslane but there is none for sale, that's too bad, they said it's a weed anyway.
One person's weed is another person's meal, or decorative, cultivated plant. People are so enamored by the blooms (of P. umbraticola) that this humble genus has its' own forum on here.
