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Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Portulaca oleracea

Portulaca oleracea (Portulacaceae)

Common Names
Purslane; Verdolaga
How this plant is used
Food
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
3-(3,4-DIHYDROXYPHENYL)ALANINE 0 Plant *
ALANINE 3 Herb 570.0 13400.0 -1.00 *
ALKALOIDS 0 Leaf 300.0 -0.59 List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
ALPHA-LINOLENIC-ACID 15 Herb 4000.0 80000.0 *
ARABINOSE 0 Plant *
ARGININE 14 Herb 520.0 10400.0 -1.00 *
ASCORBATE 0 Plant 224.0 5230.0 1.00 *
ASCORBIC-ACID 112 Herb 105.0 7000.0 -1.00 *
ASH 0 Herb 14000.0 159090.0 -1.00 *
ASPARAGIC-ACID 0 Plant List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
ASPARTIC-ACID 3 Herb 770.0 19600.0 -1.00 *
BEHENIC-ACID 1 Seed 2262.0 -0.47 *
BETA-CAROTENE 53 Herb 11.0 4650.0 1.00 *
BETA-CYANIN 0 Herb List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Seed List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
CAFFEIC-ACID 102 Plant *
CALCIUM 28 Herb 780.0 20800.0 -1.00 *
CALCIUM-OXALATE 4 Herb List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
CARBOHYDRATE 0 Herb 35500.0 632000.0 *
CARBOHYDRATES 0 Herb 35500.0 632000.0 1.00 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Immunosuppressant 2 *
Inflammatory 1 *
Inotropic 1 Martindale's 29th
Insecticide 1 Jacobson, M., Glossary of Plant-Derived Insect Deterrents, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 213 p, 1990.
Insectifuge 5 Tunon, H., Thorsell, W., and Bohlin, L. 1993. Mosquito Repelling Activity of Compounds Occurring in Achillea millefolium L. (Asteraceae). Economic Botany 48(2): 111-120, 1994.
Insulin-Sparing 1 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Insulinase-Inhibitor 1 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 157.
Insulinogenic 2 Challem, J., Berkson, Burt, and Smith, Melissa Dianne. 2000.
Syndrome X - The complete nutritional program to prevent and reservse insulin resistance. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 272 pp. $24.95
Insulinotonic 1 J. Agri. & Food Chemistry, 36: 1079.
Interferon-Synergist 1 *
Interferonogenic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Irritant 3 Merck 11th Edition
Keratolytic 1 Martindale's 29th
Laxative 6 *
Laxative? 2 Lawrence Review of Natural Products, Sep-91.
Leptingenic 1 Challem, J., Berkson, Burt, and Smith, Melissa Dianne. 2000.
Syndrome X - The complete nutritional program to prevent and reservse insulin resistance. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 272 pp. $24.95
Leukotriene-Inhibitor 1 *
Lipotropic 1 Merck 11th Edition
Lipoxygenase-Inhibitor 3 Oszmianski, J. and Lee, C.Y. 1990. Inhibitory Effect of Phenolics on Carotene Bleaching in Vegetables. J. Agric. Food Chem. 38: 688-690.
Lithogenic 2 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.