Portulacaceae

Small fleshy, succulent, hairless, non-woody (herbaceous) annuals. Stems creeping, branching, usually tinged with red, often rooting at nodes and forming mats that radiate from a central taproot. Leaves alternate but appear opposite, on short stalks, with smooth edges, often purplish on lower surface.

Flowers yellow, solitary or in small compact head-like clusters at the ends of the stem and its branches, unstalked; usually with a whorl of 3-6 leaves immediately beneath each flower or flower cluster. Each flower radially symmetrical and producing both pollen and seeds. Petals 5, separate; sepals 2. Stamens mostly 6-12. Carpels 2-9, fused to form 1 pistil; ovary located partly below point of attachment of other flower parts (partly inferior); styles or style-branches 4-6. Fruit a round capsule with a rounded, hinged lid; seeds many, black.