Portulaca gr. oleracea

Portulaca oleracea is an aggregate of microspecies. Microspecies are delimited on the basis of seed coat morphology, as the vegetative parts do not provide any stable diagnostic features. Seed size and/or ploidy level have been used for assisting in the final identification (Danin et al. 1979, Domina et al. 2010). Microspecies were previously treated as subspecies (Danin et al. 1979) and were subsequently upgraded to specific rank owing to their reproductive isolation (Danin et al. 2012). In Morocco is reported Portulaca oleracea L. (syn. Portulaca oleracea L. subsp. oleracea) and Portulaca macrantha (Maire) Ricceri & Arrigoni (syn. Portulaca oleracea subsp. macrantha (Maire) Maire).