to Vicki!!!!
Tiffany, I live in Arizona and am a lover of both purslane and portulaca plants, not a horticulturist. It has always been a mystery as to why the names are labeled differently and incorrectly to me too. Moss Rose is another name used for Portulaca and Purslane so it gets crazy. Like calling all spaniels Cocker Spaniels instead of their true breed.
Anyway, I do agree with the author but he needs to go even further since there are so many species in the Portulacaceae (Purslane family).
I agree with him that even “informed” web sites have the plant labeled incorrectly many times. So we need to remember that just because it's on the web, it isn't always correct. Abraham Lincoln said that.
In my own little world, this is how I classify them:
Edible purslane: P. Orelacea = wild plant with small yellow flowers.
Portulaca: P. grandiflora = showy, many colors, spikey leaves, double blooms. Also called Moss Rose all over the country.
Purslane: P. umbraticola = showy, many colors, paddle shaped leaves. My personal favorite.
The site below is a good one I refer to sometimes and you will see so many species. But it is all confusing and so I simply use the three above for my own personal simplified knowledge.
http://eol.org/pages/585728/na...
It would be fun to create my own paper on this sun loving plant but I doubt I will ever have the time to.
A you-tube I have shared here before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
