Ice Plant (mesembryanthemum crystalli-num, Linn.), the common name of a plant originally brought from the Canary islands and Greece. In the Canaries it used to be largely cultivated in order to procure alkali for making glass. Each plant spreads over the ground from a small annual root, and has numerous succulent branches covered with large heart-shaped or ovate, tender, and succulent leaves, the cuticle of both being elevated into many crystalline vesicles which contain a gummy principle insoluble in water; they give the plant the appearance of being covered with hoar frost, and suggested the specific and common name. Cowper calls it the " spangled beau." The sessile flowers are about half an inch across, and have numerous linear, white or purplish petals, but are of little beauty, and only produced in the middle of bright days. It is raised from seed which should be started in a pot or hotbed, and the young plants set out in a dry warm place. It was formerly much more cultivated than at present. In southern California the ice plant is naturalized, and grows in great quantities; the Spanish inhabitants burn the stems for the sake of the ashes to use in soap making.

Under the name of glaciale the ice plant is cultivated in the French kitchen gardens, and is used as an ingredient of soups, as a garnishing for salads, and as a substitute for spinach. (See Mesembryanthemum.)