The WALA Plant Library
Ice Plant

Synonyms for Ice Plant: Common Iceplant, Diamond Fig, Icicle Plant, Crystalline Iceplant
Scientific Name: Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.
Family: Aizoaceae

Description:

The sun beats down relentlessly on the South African soil. If you don't want to die of thirst here, you have to have some tricks up your sleeve. The ice plant is a specialist when it comes to getting water. It thrives on sandy-clayey and even salty soils where it can cover areas of up to 0.7 m² in the beating sun. Its secret lies in its green or sometimes intensely red leaves. They are thick and succulent and covered with glittering fluid reservoirs which sparkle in the sun like dew drops or ice crystals. But how can it accumulate so much water in such a dry climate? We'll tell you that later.
From July to September the annual to perennial, frost-sensitive ice plant is covered with numerous white to reddish flowers with radially arranged petals. This opulence stands in contrast to the root which is only a few centimetres long, giving the impression that it is only there to hold the plant in the soil rather than to supply it with water. In damp weather the capsules burst open, releasing the grey-brown seeds which need the heat of their native habitat to ripen.