Delosperma litorale

Ice plant

Family: Aizoaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Ice plant is a naturalized perennial found in southern California coastal regions and southern Channel Islands on coastal wetland margins, bluffs, and stabilized dunes at elevations below 35 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white flowers approximately 1.5 to 2.2 centimeters in diameter with delicate linear petals. Growing as a prostrate, thin mat-forming plant with widely spaced nodes that root along the ground, it spreads horizontally across coastal landscapes. Its leaves have distinctive hooked tips, creating an intriguing texture as the plant extends across sandy or marginal coastal terrain. The inner stamens of the flower form a distinctive cone around the stigmas, giving the blossoms a unique structural appearance.

Habitat: Uncommon. Margins of coastal wetlands, bluffs, stabilized dunes

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 35 m

Bioregions: SCo, s ChI

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.