Portulaca oleracea L.

DeFilipps, Robert A. & Krupnick, Gary A., 2018, The medicinal plants of Myanmar, PhytoKeys 102, pp. 1-341 : 144

Portulaca oleracea L.

Names.

Myanmar: myet-htauk, myay-byit. English: common purslane, duckweed, garden purslane, little hogweed, purslane, pursley, wild portulaca.

Range.

Thought probably originally native to southwestern United States, and now widely distributed in warm temperate, tropical, and subtrobical regions throughout world. Cosmopolitan weed; also cultivated, and with many medicinal uses. Much variation in the species.

Uses.

Leaf: Used in kidney disease treatment; also, as a laxative and digestive.

Notes.

Medicinal uses of this species in India are discussed in Jain and DeFilipps (1991). Indigenous medicinal uses of this species in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India) are described by Dagar and Singh (1999). Medicinal uses of this species in China are discussed by Duke and Ayensu (1985).

The chemical constituents, pharmacological activities, and traditional medicinal uses of this plant on a worldwide basis are discussed in detail by Ross (1999). A pharmacognostic profile including medicinal uses of this plant in Africa is given in Iwu (1993). Uses of this plant in the Upper Amazon region, including for gonorrhea, hepatitis and herpes, are given by Castner et al. (1998). This species contains high concentrations of catecholamine derivatives such as (-)-noradrenaline, DOPA and dopamine ( Mors et al. 2000).

Reference.

Nordal (1963).