Portulaca howellii (Howell’s purslane)

Howell’s purslane is native to, and apparently restricted to, the Galápagos Islands. Despite the fact that it is well-established there, I was able to find very little information about it.

Plants: A short-lived, spreading, prostrate species up to 12″ (30 cm) tall, with dark red stems. Much of the year it appears as mats of leafless, gray stems.

Flowers: Cup-shaped flowers are lemon yellow, and ¾–1″ (2–3 cm) in diameter.

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Caryophyllidae	Cacti, many other succulents, carnivorous plants, and leadworts
Order	Caryophyllales	Includes cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, and many carnivorous plants
Family	Portulacaceae	The purslane family, including mostly succulent plants such as portulaca
Genus	Portulaca	Possibly from portula, “little gate,” in reference to a lid on the fruit capsule
Species	howellii	After Thomas Jefferson Howell (1824-1912), a collector of the flora of Oregon and Washingto

About plant names...