Slenderleaf Iceplant

Nile and Mediterranean regions, Sinai.

 

Mediterranean region, southwest Asia, south Africa.

Plants annual. Stems prostrate to ascending, branched from base, 15-20 cm, sessile. Leaves: blade ± terete, linear, 1-2 cm. Inflorescences axillary, flowers solitary, sessile or petiolate; bracts absent. Flowers 4-5 mm diam.; hypanthium obconic; calyx lobes 5, equal; petals 20, connate, white, aging yellow; stamens 10. Capsules finely papillate. Seeds 100, smooth to minutely tuberculate. 2n = 36.

introduced; Calif., N.J.; Mexico (Baja California); Europe (Mediterranean); Asia; Atlantic Islands; Australia.

Flowering spring-fall.

Coastal bluffs, margins of saline wetlands; 0-100m.

Cryophytum nodiflorum (Linnaeus) L. Bolus; Gasoul nodiflorum (Linnaeus) Rothmaler

Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum I.. Sp. PI, 480. 1753
tern Hodijtorum I.. !<<• ! ird 17 v.. i
nding herb; leavet lunar, i 1.5 cm. long, i
hoi I pedum I' d, • alj % I or 5-clefl ; • petals white, shorter than the calyx-lobes ; capsule about 5 mm. high, 3.5 mm. in diameter; seeds dark-brown, about 0.9 mm. long, minutely tuberculate.
Type locality: Egypt.
Distribution: Naturalized in southern California and on adjacent islands and in Oregon. Native of the Mediterranean region and Africa.

Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum is a species of succulent plant in the genus Mesembryanthemum known by the common name slenderleaf iceplant. It is the type species for the genus. It is native to coastal areas of the Mediterranean Basin, Macaronesia, and Middle East but it is known in many other places as an introduced species and sometimes an invasive weed, including several regions of Australia, parts of the western United States and adjacent Mexico, and some Atlantic islands.

M. nodiflorum is a usually annual herb forming a mostly prostrate clump or mat of stems up to a maximum of about 20 centimeters in length. The small stem branches are lined with knob-like cylindrical fleshy leaves up to 2 centimeters long. The herbage is green to bright red and visibly bumpy with shiny, bubble-like papillae. Flowers are solitary or borne in loose clusters. Each is about half a centimeter wide with many narrow to thready white or pale yellow petals. The fruit is a capsule which opens when it becomes wet, releasing seeds.