What is this gorgeous little thing?

RosemaryDW

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New to me. I wasn’t able to get very close it put me in mind of a thistle, or something else in the sunflower family? Maybe?

It was growing low to the ground in a very scrubby roadside here in Southern California. The taller thin green plants/leaves are Russian thistle (tumbleweed) and horseweed growing through and around it; it’s only the branches with the same jelly looking bits as the flowers that are from the same plant.

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Maro2Bear

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Ice plant?

Thats what i was going to suggest as well. Normally blooms in late Winter, early Spring.

Maybe we are seeing the “crystalline papillae” ...

Foliage/Texture: Small greenish gray, nearly cylindrical succulent leaves with crystalline papillae; medium fine texture.
 
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RosemaryDW

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Whoa. Any reports of meteors from outer space landing near you recently?

Is this really Rosemary, or is it now some other entity that just LOOKS like Rosemary???
Lol, I have to say the closeup on those flowers definiitely put me in mind of the killer plant in Little Shop of Horrors.
 

RosemaryDW

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Ice plant?
Haha, it is! Crystalline iceplant, with bladder cells full of salt. Normally grows closer to Newport Bay, which is about six miles away from where we were so at least I know it’s not something I’ve seen before. If it had been a more common to us iceplant I’d have been super embarassed. :oops:

It’s a non-native invasive so I’m afraid I’ll have to stamp it out the next time I go by. Too few native plants left where I am to give this one any space, even if it’s pretty.
 

Tom

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Haha, it is! Crystalline iceplant, with bladder cells full of salt. Normally grows closer to Newport Bay, which is about six miles away from where we were so at least I know it’s not something I’ve seen before. If it had been a more common to us iceplant I’d have been super embarassed. :oops:

It’s a non-native invasive so I’m afraid I’ll have to stamp it out the next time I go by. Too few native plants left where I am to give this one any space, even if it’s pretty.
Where is it native to? Is it edible for our tortoises?
 

KarenSoCal

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RosemaryDW

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Where is it native to? Is it edible for our tortoises?
”Some” of Africa and some parts of Europe. As safe as any ice plant, I imagine; if your tortoise will eat it. Mine has yet to bother with more common ice plant (also not native).
 

Jodipg82

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New to me. I wasn’t able to get very close it put me in mind of a thistle, or something else in the sunflower family? Maybe?

It was growing low to the ground in a very scrubby roadside here in Southern California. The taller thin green plants/leaves are Russian thistle (tumbleweed) and horseweed growing through and around it; it’s only the branches with the same jelly looking bits as the flowers that are from the same plant.

View attachment 299255

View attachment 299256
So cool!!!
 

Maro2Bear

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What the heck is an ice plant? Is it some sort of cactus or is it just like a weed? Looks interesting...

I lived in Monterey Ca for a few years and they have spectacular blooms of Ice Plant there along the coastline for miles. Seemed to be more of a post rainy season bloom kind of thing in late Winter early Spring. It’s a beautiful display when it’s all blooming.

Id describe it as part of the succulent family of plants.
 

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