Portulaca oleracea (common purslane, also known as duckweed, little hogweed, or pursley) is an annual (actually tropical perennial in USDA growing zones 10-11) succulent in the family Portulacaceae, which may reach 40 cm (16 in) in height. 

Many human cultures that have eaten the plant as a nutritious herb throughout history. 

Purslane may be eaten as a leaf vegetable. It is used in salad, that is to say, raw". It has a slightly sour and salty taste and is eaten throughout much of Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Mexico. The stems, leaves and flower buds are all edible raw or cooked. Purslane may be used fresh as a salad, stir-fried, or cooked as spinach is, and because of its mucilaginous quality it also is suitable for soups and stews. The sour taste is due to oxalic and malic acid, the latter of which is produced through the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) pathway that is seen in many xerophytes (plants living in dry conditions), and is at its highest when the plant is harvested in the early morning.