purslane

Ground cover plant with reddish spaghetti-like stems and green waxy propeller shaped leaves, yellow flowers. Loves sunlight, not shade. Eat the stems along with the leaves. Has a refreshing tart lemony flavor. In North America it's considered a weed, in other countries it's a popular salad vegetable. It is the highest herbal land plant source of Omega 3, 6 and even some omega 9 fatty acids. Extremely rich in Vitamin C. Contains dopa and noradrenaline (norepinephrine), making it great for allergies, growth hormone production, thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, and the entire endocrine system (all glands). Very delicious and nutritious. Can eat raw or steam for 15 seconds, add butter, salt and pepper, mmmmn. You can take the stems, marinate them and use as noodles.You can also take the whole plant, dehydrate it and make purslane powder which you can sprinkle on things through the winter months. Very delicious, very nutritious and heart healthy. Can spread a lot- they drop 50,000 seeds at one time. The only plant that looks like purslane but isn't really edible is spurge. The way to tell the difference is spurge has a white sap inside the stem, which isn't red like purslane stems. Purslane makes a good companion plant by providing ground cover to create a humid microclimate for nearby plants, stabilizing ground moisture. Its deep roots bring up moisture and nutrients that those plants can use.

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References in periodicals archive

We recognize hundreds of corporate logos, but we struggle to identify our most common neighbors: a white oak, a bluebird, a spring beauty. Increasing emphasis on the artificial and less on the outdoors contributes to the rise in obesity, attention deficit, and depression among our children (Louv, 2005).

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In the Adirondacks, this vernal call is answered by such flowers as spring beauty and trout-lily; blossoms that seem to draw from the ground the first of the small bees.

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'Spring Beauty' Not so tall - around 45cm (18in) - with double flowers.

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Though the second half of the ride doesn't have the rocky gorges featured on the first half, the rolling pastureland makes for pretty scenery Wildflowers abound including bloodroot, spring beauty, bell-wort and foamflower in spring.

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The one you usually see is scilla spring beauty. The bulbs are relatively large and each produces several flowering stems.

MY BLUE HEAVEN; Winter has only just arrived but that doesn't mean we can't dream of spring. Get your bulbs ready and let Mother Nature paint your garden azure once the snows have melted

siberica Spring Beauty, whose bell-shaped rich blue flowers appear in spring.

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