Species
+

Portulaca umbraticola Kunth

Wingpod Purslane, wing-pod portulaca, wing-pod purslane, wingpod portulaca

Climate known 57 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Portulaca umbraticola, also known as the wingpod purslane, is an annual or short-lived perennial succulent in the genus of flowering plants Portulaca. Native to the New World, it is now found as a garden plant in the Old World due to its ornamental nature.

Text from Wikipedia, “Portulaca umbraticola”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Portulaca

Portulaca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Portulacaceae, and is the type genus of the family. With over 100 species, it is found generally in the tropics and warm temperate regions. Portulacas are also known as the purslanes.

Text from Wikipedia, “Portulaca”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Portulacaceae
Described by
Kunth
Native to
Missouri, Oklahoma, Arizona +32
Wild records
1185 in range· 496 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
874mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 87 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Portulaca, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to July and September to November in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 874 mm a year, wettest October at 87 mm, driest January at 61 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -2.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Portulaca, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to July and September to November in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (622 mm of 874 mm) takes 8 months, March to July and September to November. Mean temperature moves 10.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to January and March to May.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 874 mm a year, wettest October at 87 mm, driest January at 61 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

874 mm a year at the habitat, 622 mm of it March to July and September to November. Wettest month October at 87 mm, driest January at 61 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 430 mm to 1817 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -2.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -2.1 °C, the absolute minimum -11.0 °C, about 9 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 11.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells 1.2 °C to 23.2 °C), warmest day 30.5 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -2.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 21 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from 12 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 874 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 944 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -11.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-11.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 24–39RH 57–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 944 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C21 / 13–3222 / 15–3224 / 19–3127 / 22–3029 / 24–3130 / 23–3331 / 23–3430 / 24–3529 / 24–3227 / 23–3223 / 18–3221 / 13–32
Night °C12 / 1–2312 / 2–2314 / 5–2316 / 9–2319 / 12–2320 / 15–2421 / 15–2521 / 15–2520 / 15–2317 / 11–2315 / 6–2312 / 2–23
Rain mm61 / 24–19664 / 16–17684 / 13–19372 / 10–17886 / 8–16582 / 9–21467 / 18–19564 / 12–18177 / 14–19787 / 19–16667 / 15–16963 / 23–195
DLI26 / 18–4030 / 23–3934 / 29–4035 / 28–4837 / 23–5239 / 22–5239 / 23–4538 / 27–4234 / 30–3932 / 26–4027 / 20–4224 / 17–41
RH %58 / 49–6658 / 47–6658 / 44–6658 / 40–6660 / 38–6760 / 38–6859 / 48–6758 / 51–6658 / 48–6757 / 46–6658 / 46–6658 / 49–66

Each figure is the median across the 944 grid cells holding the 1109 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1214:1688 (29.275, -95.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -11.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -2.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 944 distinct grid cells holding the 1109 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1214:1688 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 29.50_-95.625, lapse-corrected -13 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 12 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMissouri, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay· introduced: Italy, Gulf States, China Southeast, Bangladesh, South China Sea
Kew's description“annual” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker30.267, -97.76 · in the densest population, 367 records (31% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1185 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 496 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 7714 km away. 624 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 76 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1185 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Portulaca umbraticolaPortulaca umbraticolaPortulaca umbraticolaPortulaca umbraticolaPortulaca umbraticolaPortulaca umbraticolaPortulaca umbraticolaPortulaca umbraticola

Photographs: (c) B. Phalan, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Ryan F. Mandelbaum, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) River Ahlquist, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Portulaca umbraticola, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Revealing diversity in structural and biochemical forms of C4 photosynthesis and a C3-C4 intermediate in genus Portulaca L. (Portulacaceae)
Elena V. Voznesenskaya, Nuria K. Koteyeva, Gerald E. Edwards, Gilberto Ocampo (2010) · Journal of Experimental Botany
Alien flora in Calabria (Southern Italy): an updated checklist
Giovanni Spampinato, Valentina Lucia Astrid Laface, Giandomenico Posillipo, Ana Cano-Ortíz (2022) · Biological Invasions
Self-Pollination Shortens Flower Lifespan in Portulaca umbraticola H.B.K. (Portulacaceae)
Marcelo A. Aizen (1993) · International Journal of Plant Sciences
The More Fractal the Architecture the More Intensive the Color of Flower: A Superpixel-Wise Analysis towards High-Throughput Phenotyping
Jardel da Silva Souza, Laura Monteiro Pedrosa, Bruno Rafael de Almeida Moreira, Elizanilda Ramalho do Rêgo (2022) · Agronomy
Effect of Different Photoperiods on Flower Opening Time in Portulaca umbraticola
Tawanda E. Maguvu, Yohei Higuchi, Michio Shibata (2017) · The Horticulture Journal
Phenotypical characterization of Portulaca umbraticola: A non-conventional edible ornamental crop
Jardel da Silva Souza, Elizanilda Ramalho do Rêgo, Nardiele de Souza Souto Freitas, Ângela Maria dos Santos Pessoa (2023) · Acta Scientiarum Agronomy
Difference in Flower Longevity and Endogenous Ethylene Production of Portulaca umbraticola Cultivars
Tawanda E. Maguvu, Hiroko Shimizu-Yumoto, Michio Shibata (2015) · The Horticulture Journal
Flower color variations are determined by betalain biosynthetic genes in Portulaca umbraticola
Chisaki Sumi, Shogo Sugiura, Motoyuki Ishimori, Yu TABAYASHI (2025) · Plant and Cell Physiology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Portulaca 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 89 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.