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From: Corpus Christi, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Invasive Plants, Non-Natives, User Comments
Title: Another plant with ice plant as the common name from Corpus Christi
Answered by: Barbara Medford
We realize that was not a question, but another Mr. Smarty Plants "GOTCHA." Common names of plants are a constant problem for us; they are different in areas of the country, even adjacent counties, and certainly from other countries. Mesenbryanthemum crystallinum does, as you say, have "iceplant" as one of its common names. It is native to Africa, western Asia and Europe. However, our answer to that question was still correct. Both (or all three) of the plants mentioned are non-native and invasive, and the advice to the correspondent was to go to a source for groundcovers native to Southern California, which is still valid.
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