Carpobrotus edulis – frequent names of hottentot-fig, bitter fig, ice plant, lions claw or freeway ice plant – is a perennial floor creeping plant with thick succulent leaves like cactus.
The stem can develop as much as 2m lengthy with gentle inexperienced waxy textured triangular leaves typically being purple on the finish.
Their fabulous flowers are just like daisies in form, which develop between 6-9cm in diameter with loads petals in purple, yellow or orange, that blossom from Could and June.
The crops favour the hotter climates, particularly on the Costa Blanca South thriving throughout droughts, and on salty sandy soils, and used for stabilising dunes and slopes alongside the shoreline.
They reproduce aggressively by means of runners or stolons, like grass, by forming roots on the stem nodes and might rapidly cowl the bottom which will be invasive.
Their flowers are very engaging to bugs, which carry out pollination, so additionally they efficiently reproduce by seeds.
The ripe fruit are eaten by seagulls and small mammals, corresponding to rabbits, which assist scatter seeds by means of their droppings.
