Mesembryanthemum crystallinum

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum
Common Ice Plant
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum in Lanzarote
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Aizoaceae
Subfamily: Mesembryanthemoideae
Genus: Mesembryanthemum
Species: M. crystallinum
Binomial name
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum
L.
Synonyms

Cryophytum crystallinum (L.) N. E. Br.

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum is a prostrate succulent plant that is native to Africa, Western Asia and Europe.[1] The plant is covered with large, glistening bladder cells, reflected in its common names of Common Ice Plant, Crystalline Iceplant or Iceplant.[1][2]

Uses

Its leaves are edible, as with some other members of the Aizoaceae family.

It is also cultivated for ornamentation.

Biology

The plant usually uses C3 photosynthesis but when it becomes water or salt stressed it is able to switch to CAM photosynthesis.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Taxon: Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Area. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?24132. Retrieved 2008-01-01. 
  2. ^ "Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.". Water for a Healthy Country. CSIRO. http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Mesembryanthemum/index.html. Retrieved 2008-01-01. 
  3. ^ http://pcp.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/38/3/236 Plant and Cell Physiology, 1997, Vol. 38, No. 3 236-242 Induction of CAM in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum Abolishes the Stomatal Response to Blue Light and Light-Dependent Zeaxanthin Formation in Guard Cell Chloroplasts. Gary Tallman1, Jianxin Zhu2, Bruce T. Mawson et al


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