Purslane, The Useless Indestructible Junk Weed

... that is the most nutritious tasty survival food in North America

Once you find out the miraculous properties of Purslane, you will have trouble believing the stuff is real. Hardy, robust, ubiquitous and found all over.

Unlike domesticated garden vegetables and plants, it ultimately can grow wild and healthy without any tending whatsoever. Insects generally leave it alone and yet the plant can be harvested and eaten wherever it is found growing in soil that is not toxic.

It has been recognized as a marvel used for both food and medicinal value for at least 4,000 years. Grows everywhere on earth pretty much. It survives in ugly stretches of wasteland, blooms in garbage, seems unaffected by harsh weather and fends off attacks from most insects like it was swatting flies. Blows spinach off the board in nutritional value. Higher in oxalates than beet root and spinach with no need for cultivation or much preparation.

Common purslane, Portulaca oleracea, is a highly variable, weedy plant in the purslane family (Portulacaceae) with a wide distribution. Although it is likely native to North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, it had reached North America by pre-Columbian times and was in Europe by the late 16th century. It is now naturalized in most parts of the world, both tropical and temperate – equally at home in flower beds, cultivated fields, and roadsides or other disturbed or waste places. What is strange about it is that even when neglected and forgotten, it can be discovered flourishing in the middle of the wilderness and ready-to-eat. This plant was post-apocalyptic before it was cool.