What is "mesembryanthemum crystallinum"

Ice plant \Ice" plant`\ (Bot.) A plant ( Mesembryanthemum crystallinum), sprinkled with pellucid, watery vesicles, which glisten like ice. It is native along the Mediterranean, in the Canaries, and in South Africa. Its juice is said to be demulcent and diuretic; its ashes are used in Spain in making glass.

Mesembryanthemum crystallinum is a prostrate succulent plant native to Africa, Sinai and southern Europe, and naturalized in North America, South America and Australia. The plant is covered with large, glistening bladder cells or water vesicles, reflected in its common names of common ice plant, crystalline ice plant or ice plant. The bladder cells are enlarged epidermal cells. The main function of these bladder cells is to reserve water. It can be annual, biennial or perennial, but its life cycle is usually completed within several months, depending on environmental conditions.