Edible ice plant

Edible ice plant
	Edible ice plant ( Carpobrotus edulis )
Systematics
	Eudicotyledons
	Nuclear eudicotyledons
Order :	Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family :	Midday flowers (Aizoaceae)
Genre :	Carpobrotus
Type :	Edible ice plant
Scientific name
	Carpobrotus edulis
	( L. ) L. Bolus

Aging bloom

fruit

The edible ice plant ( Carpobrotus edulis ), also called yellow ice plant , horse fig , Hottentot fig or witch's finger , is a species of plant that belongs to the genus Carpobrotus , one of the genera called ice flowers, within the family of ice flowers (Aizoaceae).

description

Carpobrotus edulis grows with winged shoots that can be up to 3 meters long. The green leaves are sharp, triangular, almost upright, 40 to 140 millimeters long and 7 to 29 millimeters wide. Their keel and edges are sawn.

The single, terminal, hermaphrodite flowers have a diameter of 5 to 9 centimeters. They are on 25 to 90 millimeter long flower stalks. The tips of the sepals are very unequal. The initially yellow petals turn pink as the flowers age. They are 20 to 45 millimeters long, 1.5 to 3 millimeters wide and are in 3 to 5 circles. The stamens are light yellow and paler towards the base. The stamens are yellow. The nectaries form a dark green, notched ring. The flowering time is all year round, but most flowers are formed in spring.

The club-shaped fruits , pressed in at the tip, are yellowish and have 7 to 14 chambers. They are 20 to 35 millimeters long and reach the same diameter.

distribution

The natural range of Carpobrotus edulis is South Africa . It extends there from Namaqualand via Cape Town to Cradock and Albany in the Eastern Cape Province . In Europe the species is naturalized in the Mediterranean area, for example in Spain and Portugal as well as on the Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores and the Cape Verde Islands; it can also be found as a neophyte in the south of Great Britain and the neighboring islands, in California (USA), Florida, in Baja California, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and some Australian states. The plants prefer to grow in damp coastal and mountain regions.

Systematics

The first scientific description as Mesembryanthemum edule was published in 1759 by Carl von Linné in his work Systema Naturae . Harriet Margaret Louisa Bolus placed the species in the genus Carpobrotus in 1927 . Carpobrotus edulis is divided into two subspecies

Carpobrotus edulis subsp. edulis
Carpobrotus edulis subsp. parviflorus W. Wisura & Glen

divided. Carpobrotus edulis subsp. parviflorus differs from Carpobrotus edulis subsp. edulis with smaller flower diameters and more uniform tips.

ingredients

Carpobrotus edulis contains polyphenols such as tannins and flavonoids and anthocyanins , which are said to have regenerative, astringent , antibacterial and antioxidant effects. It also contains citric acid and malic acid .

use

The fruits, which look slightly like a fig, have a jelly-like, sweet and sour pulp and are edible. They are processed into jam ( Sour Fig Jam ). The juice and pulp from the leaves are used in medicine to cleanse wounds and to heal burn wounds, ear and toothache.

Like other Carpobrotus species, Carpobrotus edulis is used to fortify dunes and steep banks.

Endangerment for other plant species

Invasive spread of the ice plant on Cabo da Roca in Portugal

The edible ice plant is an invasive neophyte in many parts of the world , that is, it does not originally occur there, but it can conquer and colonize new areas very quickly. It can leach out the soil, form hybrids with related plant species and displace the adapted, endemic flora due to its modesty and rapid growth. Each fruit contains hundreds of seeds and so the edible ice plant succeeded in escaping from human cultivation , partly through seed dispersal (e.g. consumption of the fruit by mammals) and partly through vegetative reproduction, and to form feral populations.

proof

literature

Heidrun EK Hartmann (Ed.): Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae AE . Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2001, ISBN 3-540-41691-9 , pp. 99 .

Individual evidence

↑ Nancy J. Vivrette: Carpobrotus edulis . In: Flora of North America . Volume 4, p. 87.
^ Carpobrotus edulis - Distribution. Global Invasive Species Database, accessed November 25, 2017.
^ Carpobrotus in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
↑ Systema Naturae . Volume 2, p. 1060
^ The Flowering Plants of South Africa. A Magazine Containing Hand-colored Figures with Descriptions of the Flowering Plants Indigenous to South Africa . Volume 7, London, Johannesburg and Cape Town 1927, p. 247.
↑ Heidrun EK Hartmann (Ed.): Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae AE . Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2001, ISBN 3-540-41691-9 , pp. 99 .
↑ Carpobrotus edulis. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
↑ Carpobrotus edulis folia. Ingredients and medical uses, SANBI (PDF).
↑ Beauty E. Omoruyi, Graeme Bradley and Anthony J. Afolayan: Antioxidant and phytochemical properties of Carpobrotus edulis (L.) bolus leaf. In: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2012, No. 12, p. 215, doi : 10.1186 / 1472-6882-12-215 .
↑ Magdaleen Van Wyk, Pat Barton: Traditional South African cooking. Struik, 2008, ISBN 978-1-77007-407-1 , p. 129.
↑ Heidrun EK Hartmann (Ed.): Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae AE . Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2001, ISBN 3-540-41691-9 , pp. 97-98 .
↑ Hottentot Fig (Carpobrotus edulis) Invasive Species Action Plan (PDF file; 1.45 MB).
↑ Global Invasive Species Database .

Web links

Commons : Edible Ice Plant - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Nancy J. Vivrette: Carpobrotus edulis . In: Flora of North America . Volume 4, p. 87

Medicinal plants on a tour of the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden.

Hear.org: Carpobrotus edulis

Carpobrotus edulis in the IUCN's Global Invasive Species Database
Carpobrotus edulis at the Daisie project (Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe)

[1] Nancy J. Vivrette: Carpobrotus edulis . In: Flora of North America . Volume 4, p. 87.

[2] Carpobrotus edulis - Distribution. Global Invasive Species Database, accessed November 25, 2017.

[GRIN-3] Carpobrotus in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved October 22, 2018.

[4] Systema Naturae . Volume 2, p. 1060

[5] The Flowering Plants of South Africa. A Magazine Containing Hand-colored Figures with Descriptions of the Flowering Plants Indigenous to South Africa . Volume 7, London, Johannesburg and Cape Town 1927, p. 247.

[6] Heidrun EK Hartmann (Ed.): Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae AE . Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2001, ISBN 3-540-41691-9 , pp. 99 .

[7] Carpobrotus edulis. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).

[8] Carpobrotus edulis folia. Ingredients and medical uses, SANBI (PDF).

[9] Beauty E. Omoruyi, Graeme Bradley and Anthony J. Afolayan: Antioxidant and phytochemical properties of Carpobrotus edulis (L.) bolus leaf. In: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2012, No. 12, p. 215, doi : 10.1186 / 1472-6882-12-215 .

[10] Magdaleen Van Wyk, Pat Barton: Traditional South African cooking. Struik, 2008, ISBN 978-1-77007-407-1 , p. 129.

[11] Heidrun EK Hartmann (Ed.): Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae AE . Springer Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2001, ISBN 3-540-41691-9 , pp. 97-98 .

[12] Hottentot Fig (Carpobrotus edulis) Invasive Species Action Plan (PDF file; 1.45 MB).

[13] Global Invasive Species Database .