Pickle plant (Delosperma echinatum)
Description
Delosperma echinatum is a low shrubby sprawling succulent shrub, often prostrate but can grow up to 18 inches (45 cm) tall, with thin wiry stems holding pairs of 1 inch (2.5 cm) long barrel-shaped green leaves that, like the younger stems, bristle with soft spine-like white hairs. From late winter through fall, with a peak in spring, appear up to 0.8 inch (2 cm) wide, pale yellow flowers held at the stem tips. Delosperma ('delos'=evident, 'sperma'=seed) is a genus of around 100 species of succulent plants, formerly included in Mesembryanthemum in the family Aizoaceae. The family is common in southern and eastern Africa. Delosperma species, as do most Aizoaceae, have hygrochastic capsules, opening and closing with changes in humidity. Plants of the Delosperma genus can be distinguished by their seed capsules. When these open (in response to rain), the seeds are exposed and not covered by a protective membrane, like those of most other plants in the family. The membrane is sometimes reduced to just a ledge (a feature shared by the related genus Trichodiadema. The triangular valves, which open outwards when wet, each have distinctive wings on either side. Delosperma leaves tend to grooved or covered in bladder cells, which are sometimes even extended into hairs. The leaf shape is cylindrical or sometimes flattened.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Caryophyllales
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Family: Aizoaceae
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Genus: Delosperma
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