Ice plant is the common name for certain hardy plants that live in dry regions. Glistening hairlike parts cover many kinds of ice plants. From a distance, these parts resemble ice crystals. The thick leaves of ice plants store water, enabling the plants to withstand drought. Their attractive flowers have numerous petals that may be white, pink, purple, or yellow. Ice plants use their creeping stems to spread over large areas.
Most ice plants are native to South Africa, but people have cultivated them around the world. The best-known kind is the common ice plant. The leaves of the common ice plant are edible. However, the plant contains small amounts of a mild poison, which give it a bitter taste. Ice plants have been widely planted in California to control erosion. They have spread so aggressively there that they threaten to crowd out many native plants.
