Portulacaceae - Purslane family

Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, usually glabrous and succulent. Stipules scarious, hair-like or 0. Leaves simple, opposite or alternate. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic. Sepals 2. Petals 4-6, often shed quickly. Stamens as many as petals or more numerous. Ovary superior or half-inferior (Portulaca), 1-locular. Fruit a capsule.

Worldwide: 32 genera and 380 species, cosmopolitan, with the highest concentration of species in arid areas of the Southern hemisphere.

Mozambique: 1 cultivated genus and 1 cultivated taxon.