Mesembryanthemum crystallinum seed

LATIN NAME: Mesembryanthemum crystallinum

COMMON NAME: Ice Plant

The ice plant spreads its low, fleshy, glistening leaves and the many small, white or pink, daisy-like flowers, and the whole plant carries the fine, sparkling look of the dry garden. The low, spreading, annual or short-lived perennial plant carries the fleshy, cylindrical, succulent leaves covered with the fine, glistening, bladder-like cells and the many small, white or pale-pink, daisy-like flowers through the warm season, one of the fine, bright sights of the dry border, drawing the bees, to be followed by the small, many-seeded capsules. The fleshy leaves have a very long record as the fine, salty, crisp greens of the warm tables, and the plant is a fine, historic presence of the dry border. It is a plant of the open, sunny, sharp-draining ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The ice plant is a historic subject of the plant science, and the glistening leaves keep showing up in the work on the salt-tolerant succulents. The way the fine, glistening, bladder-like cells cover the fleshy, cylindrical, succulent leaves has been studied closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the salt-tolerant succulents, the glistening leaves and the members of the fig-marigold family. The fleshy leaves and the low habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the ice plant is a regular subject of the work on the glistening leaves of the dry world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The ice plant is a fine, bright plant of the dry border and the study collection. The many small, white or pale-pink, daisy-like flowers open through the warm season, one of the fine, bright sights of the dry border, drawing the bees, and the fleshy, cylindrical, succulent leaves covered with the fine, glistening, bladder-like cells have a very long record as the fine, salty, crisp greens of the warm tables, the fresh leaves coming to the salads and the cool plates of the new kitchens. It is one of the fine choices for the dry border, the pot and the study collection, and it has been written up in the culinary and the botanical papers for the glistening leaves and the salty ways. It is a fine, bright plant of the open, sunny, sharp-draining garden.

Give the young plants the sharp-draining soil, and the glistening leaves will spread over the warm months.

To grow the ice plant from seed, sow the tiny, dust-like seeds over the surface of the deep tray of fine, gritty soil, without covering them, keep the tray in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings show themselves within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the sharp-draining ground, the glistening leaves will spread over the warm months.

Introduced from Europe and Africa, their unique physiology and ability to accumulate salt has enabled them to establish in disturbed and saline areas. Ice plant is a robust succulent herb or dense prostrate shrub to 1 m wide.Plants are densely papillose with large bladder cells, especially prominent on the receptacle. These give the plant a glistening appearance, and hence the species name “ice-plant”.

Seeds germinate during the cooler months of the year and the plants grow though to mid- or late-summer