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Carpobrotus glaucescens
Also called Coastal Pigface, Pigface, Iceplant, Pig Face
Angular Sea-Fig is a low, mat-forming coastal succulent native to eastern Australia, Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. It thrives in full sun and sandy, free-draining soil close to the sea and is grown mainly for its fleshy leaves and showy daisy-like flowers.
Carpobrotus glaucescens, commonly known as pigface or iceplant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Aizoaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a succulent, prostrate plant with stems up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) long, glaucous leaves, daisy-like flowers with 100 to 150 light purple to deep pinkish-purple, petal-like staminodes and red to purple fruit. The fruits ripen mainly in Summer and Autumn. It usually only grows very close to the sea.
Carpobrotus glaucescens occurs in near-coastal areas of Queensland south from near Mackay to New South Wales and the far east of Victoria where it has been confused with C. rossii. It is also found on Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. There is a population on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand but it may be an introduced species there.
The fruit of C. glaucescens was used by Aboriginal peoples as a food source. The flesh of the fruit is said to have a taste similar to salty apples. The fleshy leaves may be eaten either raw or cooked; roasted, they can be used as a salt substitute. Early European explorers used the plant as an anti-scurvy treatment. The juice of the leaves can also be used to relieve burnt skin or to soothe stings, such as from biting midges or Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis).
Sally My Handsome · Chilean Pigface · Sea fig · Delicious Sourfig · Natal dune vygie · Hottentot fig · Mountain Sourfig · Inland Pigface · Albertinia sour fig · Giant Sourfig · Karkalla · Coastal Pigface
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Carpobrotus glaucescens by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
