Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Montia australasica

Flower and leaf. Photographer Tindo2, Tas

Flowering plant (mat form). Photographer Richard Hartland, Lake Mountain, Vic

Flowering plant (stream form). Photographer Don Wood, South East Forests National Park

Common name

White Purslane, Snow Purslane

Family

Portulacaceae

Where found

Herbfields, bare gravelly or rocky ground, along streams, seepage areas, other moist areas including bogs and swamps, and in running water. Widespread. Rare on the coast and ranges, and the Western Slopes.

Notes

Prostrate hairless perennial herb. Stems slightly fleshy, to 30 cm long, rooting at the nodes. Often forms dense mats no more than 3 cm high at high altitudes. Stems sometimes fleshy, often pinkish in terrestrial forms, old stems with conspicuous leaf scars. Leaves alternating along the stems, 1–12 cm long, 1-5 mm wide, bright green or glaucous, tips usually blunt, bases dilated, membranous, forming short sheaths round the stems. Leaves reach their greatest length in running water. Flowers about 8-20 mm in diameter, with 5 white or pale pink petals united near the base. Flowers single or in few-flowered clusters. Flowering: October–March

Neopaxia australasica in PlantNET.

Was Family Montiaceae.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Neopaxia~australasica  (accessed 2 May 2021)