The leafy vegetables, Portulaca oleracea and Asystasla gangetica, grow as wild weeds in many parts of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria (latitudes 4°32' and 5°53' North: and longitudes 7°25' and 8°25' East). The former is locally called "utong ekpu", meaning field mouse ears, to which the leaf shapes bear close resemblance.
