''Mesembryanthemum crystallinum'' is a prostrate

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

plant native to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

and southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and naturalized in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

. The plant is covered with large, glistening bladder cells or water vesicles, reflected in its common names of common ice plant, crystalline ice plant or ice plant.

Description

''Mesembryanthemum crystallinum'' grows creeping stems, from in length. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are long. It flowers from March to October. The many-petalled flowers, across, open in the morning and close at night, and are pollinated by insects. The species is covered with enlarged epidermal cells, called "bladder cells", the main function of which is to reserve water. The plant can be annual, biennial or perennial, but its life cycle is usually completed within several months, depending on environmental conditions.

Biology

The plant usually uses

C3 carbon fixation carbon fixation is the most common of three metabolic pathways for carbon fixation in photosynthesis, along with and CAM. This process converts carbon dioxide and ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP, a 5-carbon sugar) into two molecules of 3-phosph ...

, but when it becomes water- or salt-stressed, it is able to switch to

Crassulacean acid metabolism Crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis, is a carbon fixation pathway that evolved in some plants as an adaptation to arid conditions that allows a plant to photosynthesize during the day, but only exchange gases at night. ...

. Like many salt-tolerant plants, ''M. crystallinum'' accumulates salt throughout its life, in a gradient from the roots to the shoots, with the highest concentration stored in epidermal bladder cells. The salt is released by leaching once the plant dies, resulting in a detrimental osmotic environment preventing the growth of other, non-

salt-tolerant Halotolerance is the adaptation of living organisms to conditions of high salinity. Halotolerant species tend to live in areas such as hypersaline lakes, coastal dunes, saline deserts, salt marshes, and inland salt seas and springs. Halophiles a ...

species while allowing ''M. crystallinum'' seeds to germinate. In ''M. crystallinum'', the number of seeds produced depends on whether CAM has been activated (C3 metabolism is more efficient) and the size the plant has grown to in its juvenile growth phase. Older portions of the plant progressively die off and dry out during seed production. The developing seed capsules continue to sequester salt and produce viable seeds. Seeds at the top of the capsule generally germinate immediately on imbibation, while seeds at the base may remain dormant for longer than four weeks.

Distribution and habitat

''Mesembryanthemum crystallinum'' is native to

and southern

, and naturalized in the Southwest of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, as well as in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is found on a wide range of soil types, from well-drained sandy soils (including sand dunes), to loamy and clay soils. It can tolerate nutritionally poor or saline soils (

halophile The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, ...

), and grows well in disturbed sites such as roadsides, rubbish dumps and homestead yards.

Ecology

''M. crystallinum'' is listed as an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in North America, South America, and Australia. Its ability to grow in poor quality or saline soils and preference for disturbed areas are traits shared by many invasive plants which enable them to outcompete

native species In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

. In addition salt sequestration over the plant's lifetime, and the subsequent leaching into the soil upon its death, create an environment in which other plant's seeds struggle to

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

, allowing for the colonization of new areas with very little competition. The plant is rarely, if ever, grazed upon by domestic stock.

Uses

The leaves are edible, as with some other members of the family

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is d ...

. The plant was once promoted in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

as a vegetable similar to

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...

, but failed to gain popularity. In southern Africa, the leaves and stems are gathered from the wild and pickled. In Japan, the plant has become a common vegetable sold in supermarkets after

Saga University ; abbreviated as or , is a national university in Saga, Saga Prefecture, Japan. The university has five faculties with around 7,000 students. Its two campuses are in and . History The history of Saga University is complicated. The oldest Saga t ...

succeeded in

hydroponic Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops or medicinal plants, without soil, by using water-based mineral nutrient solutions in aqueous solvents. Terrestrial or aquatic plan ...

cultivation of a commercial quantity in 2009; the vegetable goes by the names ice plant (アイスプラント), salt leaf (ソルトリーフ) and barafu (バラフ). The seeds are also edible. The crushed leaves can be used as a

soap substitute Traditionally, soap has been made from animal or plant derived fats and has been used by humans for cleaning purposes for several thousand years. Soap is not harmful to human health but, like any natural or unnatural surfactant, it does have the p ...

and have medicinal uses. Ice plants are also used in South Africa as a way of deterring fires, or "firescaping" gardens. It is also cultivated for

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

. Due to its salt accumulation, ''M. crystallinum'' may be useful for

bioremediation Bioremediation broadly refers to any process wherein a biological system (typically bacteria, microalgae, fungi, and plants), living or dead, is employed for removing environmental pollutants from air, water, soil, flue gasses, industrial effluent ...

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q161473 crystallinum Barilla plants Drought-tolerant plants Flora of Africa Flora of Europe Garden plants Groundcovers Leaf vegetables Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus