706 Portulaca oleracea L.

Of this widespread species s. lat. subsp. sativa (Haw.) Celak. is cultivated and occurs occasionally as an escape. The origin of subsp. oleracea, a widely distributed weed, is unknown. It occurs in a great many places in the tropics and elsewhere in the southern hemisphere. The species s. lat. belongs, at least nowadays, to the discontinuous circumpolar plants (Hultén, Circumpol. Il, p. 206 and map 198).