# sea fig

*Carpobrotus edulis*

Also known as the Hottentot Fig, its leaf juice can be used like Aloe Vera to soothe minor burns and insect bites.

- **Taxonomy:** Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Caryophyllales › Aizoaceae › Carpobrotus
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** increasing
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Coastal sand dunes, sea cliffs, and rocky outcrops.
- **Diet:** Photosynthetic (sunlight, carbon dioxide, and soil nutrients).
- **Range:** South Africa, California, Mediterranean Basin, Australia, United Kingdom
- **Size:** Trailing stems up to 3 meters long; succulent triangular leaves 6-13 cm in length.
- **Lifespan:** Perennial; individual clonal mats can live for several decades.
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Habitat loss in native South Africa; globally considered a major invasive threat to native biodiversity.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. The fruit is edible when soft and yellow, often tasting like salty strawberries. In many regions, this plant is a noxious invasive; avoid planting it or spreading fragments in coastal areas.

## About

Carpobrotus edulis is a ground-creeping plant with succulent leaves in the genus Carpobrotus , native to South Africa. It is also known as Hottentot-fig , ice plant , highway ice plant or pigface and in South Africa as the sour fig ( suurvy ).

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/d319f6fb-3370-4838-91ce-375cdeef8338
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49322
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpobrotus edulis
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/153343754/medium.jpg (Alvesgaspar, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.