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Species library › Trianthema › Trianthema portulacastrum
Succulents Well documented

Trianthema portulacastrum

Desert horsepurslane is a fast, mat-forming annual in the ice-plant family, with fleshy stems and leaves. It grows across the warm tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa and Asia and is a common weed of fields and disturbed ground. It is easy to grow from seed in heat and full sun, but it self-sows freely.

Trianthema portulacastrum
Photo: Graham Racher, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Open, disturbed ground: field margins, roadsides, sandy riverbanks, dry washes and coastal flats, mostly in hot lowlands.

Recorded from below sea level to 2,400 m, with a median of only about 106 m. It is mainly a lowland plant.

Southern United StatesMexicoCentral AmericaCaribbeanTropical South AmericaTropical AfricaArabian PeninsulaIndian subcontinentSoutheast AsiaMalesiaIndian Ocean islands

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 2.0 licence, unmodified.