Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, Ice Plant, Diamond Ficoides,
Hebrew: אהל הגבישים, Arabic: مصنع الثلج المشترك

Scientific name:  Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.
Common name:   Ice Plant, Diamond Ficoides
Hebrew name:   אהל הגבישים
Arabic name:  مصنع الثلج المشترك
Plant Family:  Aizoaceae, חיעדיים

flower name derivations, botanical, definition, reference, botany, botanical terms

Life form:  Annual
Succulence:  leaves + stems + bladders (glistening bladder cells or water vesicles)
Stems:  Trailing, dichotomously (=repeated branching into two equal parts) branched, to 1 m
Leaves:  Alternate, opposite, entire, flat, ovate to spoon-shaped
Inflorescence:  Cyme or flower axillary, ± sessile
Flowers:  7-10 mm in diameter, white, aging pink,20-40 petals, connate into tube; 30 stamens
Fruits / pods:  Capsules coarsely papillate; Seeds, rough with minute tubercles
Flowering Period:  February, March, April, May, June
Habitat:   Mediterranean strand
Distribution:   The Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   Med - Euro-Siberian
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral

פרחים וצמחי בר, דיווחי פריחה


Derivation of the botanical name:
Mesembryanthemum , mesembrianthemum, Greek, mesembria, "midday"; anthemon, "flower"; in allusion to the fact that the only species then known all bloomed at noon. When species of other habits became known, the genus was renamed mesembryanthemum. As now spelled, the derivation is mesos, "middle"; embryon, "fruit"; anthemon, "flower."
crystallinum, κρύσταλλος, krustallos, “ice"; crystalline, transparant.
The Hebrew name:אהל, ohol, of uncertain origin. Perhaps borrowed from agaruh, aguruh (=aloewood), which are probably Greek aloe (= aloe), is probably a Hebrew loan word.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

    Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, Ice Plant, Diamond Ficoides, אהל הגבישים