Carpobrotus edulis subsp. edulis

Carpobrotus edulis subsp. edulis is a very succulent perennial, a robust plant that forms a dense mat of multiple trailing stems. It forms part of the Aizoaceae family.

It has large green, smooth and succulent leaves that are paired, erect, opposite, three-angled and fused at the base. The straight to slightly incurved leaves are finely serrated along the upper parts of their margins and keels.

The flowers are large in mesemb terms, up to 8 cm across. They grow solitary at the branch tips. Yellow in colour, old flowers wither to slightly pink. The style and stigma are often prominent in the centre of the cluster of stamens. The base of the flower tapers from the five sepal lobes to the pedicel around the ovary that becomes a pulpy, segmented fruit capsule.

The fruits are sought after, eaten by several animal species, as well as by people. Housewives make jam of them.

These plants grow along the coast in the west and south of South Africa from the west of the Northern Cape, through the Western Cape where it also occurs inland to the south of the Eastern Cape.

The habitat is varied coastal and inland sandy slopes and flats among fynbos, renosterveld and scrub. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Mustart, et al, 1997; http://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).