Flora of New Zealand Series

ice plant

Mat-forming trailing perennial herb. Stems to 6 m long, glabrous, 2-angled, subwoody at base. Lvs smooth, sharply 3-angled, linear, acute, scarcely tapered to connate base, 35-90 × 5-12 mm, 5-12× as long as wide; keel denticulate near apex. Fls 6.5-8 cm diam. Calyx glabrous; longest sepals 25-45 mm long. Petals spreading, purple, paler near base, 10-35 mm long. Stamens 4-10 mm long; filaments yellow or pinkish, hairy at base; anthers pale yellow. Stigmas 8-11. Seeds brown, often asymmetrically obovoid, 1-1.3 mm long.

N.: Taranaki (Patea), Wellington (Pukerua Bay); S.: Canterbury, Otago.

California, Chile 1969

Coastal rocky sites, mostly steep banks and cliffs.

Early records of Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale Haw. in N.Z. probably followed Kirk, T., Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 12 : 398 (1880), in applying that name to lax, long-peduncled forms of the native Disphyma australe.