It is particularly well adapted to the warm, moist conditions found in California's irrigated agricultural and ornamental sites.
Common purslane is also edible with a sweet, yet acidlike flavor.
An excellent crunchy salad plant, it is said to blend well with hotter-flavored salad herbs. It has been cultivated in India and the Middle East and has been popular in Europe since the Middle Ages. In the United States, common purslane is a minor crop because of its use in ethnic cooking and its reputed health benefits. The reddish to flesh-colored stems originate from a central rooting point, radiating out like spokes of a wheel. The stems vary in length, commonly up to 12 inches.