Olasiman
Portulaca oleracea · Purslane
- Names in the 1901 book
- Verdolagas, Sp.; Olasiman, Kolasiman, Tag.; Purslane, Eng.
- Names in the 1985 book
- English: Purslane; Tagalog: Kolasiman, Ulisiman, Golasiman, Alusiman; Bicol: Alusiman, Ausiman; Ilocano: Tabucol; Visayan: Alusiman
- Colours
- floweryellow
- Native range
- Cosmopolitan; origin uncertain
- In the Philippines, per the book
- It grows in all parts of the islands.
- Family
- Portulacaceae, filed in the book under Portulacaceæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Portulaca oleracea, L.
- Printed in 1985 as
- Portulaca olearacea L.
- Sources
- Page 34 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 66 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Portulaca oleracea (common purslane, also known as little hogweed, or pursley) is a succulent plant in the family Portulacaceae. All parts of the plant are edible raw or cooked.
Excerpt from “Portulaca oleracea” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang Portulaca oleracea ay isang espesye ng mga kulasiman o mga portulaka. Ito ang pang-karaniwang kulasiman (Ingles: common purslane, summer purslane o pigweed) , na isang uri ng yerba. Sa kadahilanang itinuturing na masamang damo (o yagit) ang portulakang ito, kadalasang ginagamit ito bilang pakain (Ingles: fodder o animal feeds) sa mga hayop.
Sipi mula sa “Portulaca oleracea” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 141 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 19 provinces, most often Davao del Norte (40), Metropolitan Manila (15), Davao del Sur (13), Rizal (7), Guimaras (5), Batanes (4), Iloilo (3), Palawan (3), and 11 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The entire plant is edible, in the form of a salad or as a condiment with meat or fish. The leaves are succulent and acid, and the juice expressed from them is used as an eyewash to remove corneal opacities; it is also used in superficial erysipelas and other skin affections. The bruised leaves are used as a poultice for abscesses, contusions and on the temples for headache. The juice is given internally to check hæmoptysis and in diseases of the lungs and bladder; the seeds also are used in these complaints.
Botanical description
A plant with prostrate stem. Leaves fleshy, wedge-shaped. Flowers small, sessile, terminal, pale yellow. Calyx of 2 large teeth, deciduous. Corolla, 4–5 petals with a notch at the end. Stamens 9–14. Style of equal length with the stamens. Stigma in 4–6 divisions. The seed vessel, which dehisces horizontally, contains many small, heart-shaped seeds.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- Sunburn and prickly heatLeaf juice, applied after a starch bath.No amount is given.Page 41
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Alusiman” on page 66. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Edible exosome-like nanoparticles from portulaca oleracea L mitigate DSS-induced colitis via facilitating double-positive CD4+CD8+T cells expansion
- A review on bioactive phytochemicals and ethnopharmacological potential of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.)
- Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) polysaccharide attenuates carbon tetrachloride-induced acute liver injury by modulating the gut microbiota in mice