Jewel – Crystalline Ice Plant.

This is a dead flower. 🙂 … Pretty, isn’t it?

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum – Crystalline Ice Plant – (Aizoaceae) – common ice plant – Native of South Africa, but, living on Fiesta Island in San Diego. It has been used as a landscape ornamental and is named for the small glistening vesicles that cover its leaves and stems.

This was shot in the very late afternoon, almost sunset, and the sun was very low, streaming through the crystalline vesicles that caught my attention while I was walking around with my macro lens on my camera. I have some other images of the plant with its beautiful small white flowers. … Oh, and by the way, you can eat this plant, leaves and all.

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –