Synonyms:

• Corpuscolaria lehmannii
• Delosperma algoense
• Mesembryanthemum lehmannii
• Mesembryanthemum sexpartitum
• Schonlandia lehmannii

Its common name is Ice plant.

Habitat:

-Delosperma lehmannii is native to South Africa.

Description:

-Delosperma lehmannii is a succulent plant with compact leaves. It’s a leafy hairless plant, that forms great ground cover. Despite being an evergreen plant, it can have some dieback of foliage in the winter. The thick leaves grow in opposing pairs: they are tree-angled, grey-green, up to 4 cm long. It presents two kind of shoots: one is long, with visible internodes (it is the flower-bearing shoot) and the other kind of shoot is short and decumbent. It blooms for most of the summer and fall, producing yellowe, daisy-like flowers.

Cultivation:

-Delosperma lehmannii is an easy, fast plant to cultivate: it tolerates heat but, as many succulents, doesn’t tolerate wet soil: good draining is very important, that’s why it prefers sandy soils. It is a dry tolerant plant, so it only needs waterings during summer (let dry between waterings). It prefers full sun but can handle light shade: in shade the leaves will remain more green, while in full sun the color will tend to get grey-blue. Nevertheless, it is important to provide some shelter during the summer to protect the plant from sunburnes during the hottest hours of the day. It has to be protected from frost, too (the minimum temperature required is about 5°C).

Propagation:

-It is easily propagated by seeds, but also from cuttings. Delosperma lehmannii can also be propagated by planting the leaves in sandy soil, where they will take root easily.

Curiosity:

-Pollution, invasive species and habitat loss are threatening the survival of this plant.