Mesembryanthemum |
Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum |
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| iceplant |
slender-leaf iceplant, small flower iceplant |
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| Habit | Herbs, annual or perennial, usually short-lived, succulent, usually conspicuously papillate, glabrous. | Plants annual. | ||||
| Roots | fibrous. |
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| Stems | prostrate to ascending. |
prostrate to ascending, branched from base, 15–20 cm, sessile. |
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| Leaves | basal and cauline, alternate or opposite, sessile or petiolate; stipules absent; blade reddish with age, flat or terete, margins often undulate. |
blade ± terete, linear, 1–2 cm. |
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| Inflorescences | terminal or axillary, flowers solitary or in cymes; bracts absent or 1–2, sessile or pedicellate. |
axillary, flowers solitary, sessile or petiolate; bracts absent. |
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| Flowers | showy, 4–10[–20] mm diam., tubular; calyx lobes (4–) 5, 2 often leaflike; petals (including petaloid staminodia) 20–40[–150], distinct or connate into short tube, free, white, pink, or yellowish, linear; nectary glands 5; stamens 30[–120]; pistil (4–)5-carpellate; ovary half-inferior, (4–)5-loculed, convex; placentation axile; stigmas (4–)5, erect, filiform. |
4–5 mm diam.; hypanthium obconic; calyx lobes 5, equal; petals 20, connate, white, aging yellow; stamens 10. |
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| Fruits | capsules, persistent, valves (4–)5, with expanding interior keels when moistened, forming capsule lids when dried, dehiscence loculicidal. |
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| Capsules | finely papillate. |
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| Seeds | 100–200, black or dark [light] reddish brown [ochre or whitish], compressed [globose], often with 1 straight edge, 1 mm, smooth to rough with minute tubercles; arils absent. |
100, smooth to minutely tuberculate. |
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| 2n | = 36. |
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Mesembryanthemum |
Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum |
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| Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | |||||
| Habitat | Coastal bluffs, margins of saline wetlands | |||||
| Elevation | 0-100 m [0-300 ft] | |||||
| Distribution |
s Africa; w Africa [Introduced in North America; also introduced in Mexico, South America, Europe (Mediterranean), Asia, Atlantic Islands, Australia] |
CA; NJ; Mexico (Baja California); Europe (Mediterranean); Asia; Atlantic Islands; Australia [Introduced in North America]
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| Discussion | Species 74 (2 in the flora). As described here, Mesembryanthemum is the narrowly delineated genus sensu H. M. L. Bolus (1928–1958, part 3, p. 164, fig. 25). The ability of Mesembryanthemum crystallinum and M. nodiflorum to accumulate and release salt into the surrounding soil is one mechanism by which these species dominate disturbed areas (N. J. Vivrette and C. H. Muller 1977; N. J. Vivrette 1980). Etymology: Greek mesembria, midday, and anthemum, blo oming (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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| Key |
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| Synonyms | Cryophytum, Gasoul | Cryophytum nodiflorum, Gasoul nodiflorum | ||||
| Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 480. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 215. (1754) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 480. (1753) | ||||
| Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 84. | FNA vol. 4, p. 85. | ||||
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