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Portulaca cryptopetala; photograph (c) Paulo C. O. Cunha, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Paulo C. O. Cunha, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2023-04-02

Portulaca cryptopetala Speg.

Portulacaceae · Bolivia, Brazil South +4

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Portulaca cryptopetala, photograph (c) Carla Florencia Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Portulaca cryptopetala, photograph (c) Carla Florencia Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Portulaca cryptopetala, photograph (c) Carla Florencia Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY)Portulaca cryptopetala, photograph (c) Mateo Peña, some rights reserved (CC BY)Portulaca cryptopetala, photograph (c) Mateo Peña, some rights reserved (CC BY)Portulaca cryptopetala, photograph (c) Mateo Peña, some rights reserved (CC BY) 68 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
0.1°C
Record low -3.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jan at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,254mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
15–46DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to October (October to April at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Portulaca

Portulaca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Portulacaceae, and is the type genus of the family. With over 100 species, it is found generally in the tropics and warm temperate regions. Portulacas are also known as the purslanes.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Portulaca", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (868 mm of 1,235 mm) falls in October to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.6 °C against a yearly mean of 18.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to October.

Rain

1,235 mm in the median year at the habitat, 868 mm of it October to April. Wettest month March at 135 mm, driest month August at 58 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,034 mm to 1,580 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,254 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,235 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 0.1 °C, the absolute minimum -3.3 °C, 147 frost nights in 44 years, 3.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 8.3 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 6.5 °C to 11.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.8 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -12 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Portulaca cryptopetala through the yearWarmest month January, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 8.3 °C; 1,235 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-3.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 15–46RH 57–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 130 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C30 / 25–3228 / 25–3127 / 24–2923 / 20–2619 / 17–2216 / 14–2016 / 13–2018 / 15–2320 / 16–2423 / 19–2726 / 21–2929 / 24–31
Night °C20 / 18–2320 / 18–2218 / 17–2115 / 13–1812 / 10–159 / 8–138 / 7–129 / 8–1311 / 9–1413 / 12–1716 / 15–1918 / 17–21
Rain mm124 / 89–175133 / 103–165135 / 108–170124 / 87–193100 / 38–13171 / 16–12159 / 17–12358 / 15–10679 / 43–130116 / 86–155120 / 101–178116 / 81–170
DLI45 / 42–4739 / 37–4032 / 31–3324 / 23–2518 / 17–2015 / 14–1817 / 15–2022 / 21–2629 / 27–3136 / 34–3743 / 40–4346 / 42–47
RH %58 / 55–6259 / 57–6360 / 58–6261 / 60–6361 / 60–6463 / 61–6461 / 59–6459 / 55–6358 / 55–6359 / 56–6358 / 55–6257 / 55–61
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 130 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (177 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2496:2439 (-34.825, -58.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 130 distinct grid cells holding 177 of the 178 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2496:2439 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -35.00_-58.125, lapse-corrected -12 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBolivia, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-32.884, -58.047 · in the densest population, 215 records (86% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual or biennial” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 250 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 177 of them in the land cells it reads, of 178 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 120 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 114 km away. 6 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 72 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 250 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Portulaca cryptopetala, photograph 1did not loadPortulaca cryptopetala, photograph 2did not loadPortulaca cryptopetala, photograph 3did not loadPortulaca cryptopetala, photograph 4did not loadPortulaca cryptopetala, photograph 5did not loadPortulaca cryptopetala, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Carla Florencia Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Mateo Peña, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Smilax campestris Smilax campestris Smilacaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedIpomoea grandifolia Ipomoea grandifolia Little Bell Photo: CC BY, Maru MasseroniVerbesina subcordata Verbesina subcordata Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Agustina CollazoNierembergia scoparia Nierembergia scoparia Broom cupflower Photo: CC BY, Cecilia Fer DíazGomphrena elegans Gomphrena elegans Amaranthaceae Photo: CC BY, Nico YakHibiscus striatus Hibiscus striatus Striped rose-mallow Photo: CC BY, Nico Yak

Other Portulaca 13 in the reference

Portulaca amilis Portulaca amilis Paraguayan purslane Photo: CC0, author not statedPortulaca gilliesii Portulaca gilliesii Portulacaceae Photo: CC BY, Rafael TosiPortulaca grandiflora Portulaca grandiflora Rose-moss Photo: CC BY, Guillermo DebandiPortulaca halimoides Portulaca halimoides Silk-cotton purslane Photo: CC BY, Jo RobertsPortulaca molokiniensis Portulaca molokiniensis 'Ihi Photo: CC BY, Eric KnightPortulaca obtusa Portulaca obtusa Argentinian Purslane Photo: CC BY, Lucas CarbonePortulaca oleracea Portulaca oleracea Common purslane Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaPortulaca pilosa Portulaca pilosa Kiss-me-quick Photo: CC BY, Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）Portulaca quadrifida Portulaca quadrifida Chickenweed Photo: CC BY-SA, Rebecca Ryen-StolsPortulaca rubricaulis Portulaca rubricaulis Red-stem purslane Photo: CC BY, Josiah LonderéePortulaca suffrutescens Portulaca suffrutescens Shrubby purslane Photo: CC BY, Bruce HartmanPortulaca umbraticola Portulaca umbraticola Wingpod purslane Photo: CC BY, Mitul and Vijul Singh all 14 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Portulaca cryptopetala f. phaenopetala; Portulaca cryptopetala f. phenopetala; Portulaca cryptopetala f. saltensis; Portulaca cryptopetala subsp. diversifolia; Portulaca cryptopetala var. diversifolia and 13 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Portulacaceae
Described by
Speg.
Native to
Bolivia, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast +3
Wild records
250 in range · 120 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 3 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -35.00_-58.125, lapse-corrected -12 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 28 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…