2671 x 3443 px | 22,6 x 29,2 cm | 8,9 x 11,5 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
settembre 2011
Ubicazione:
Cabo de Roca, Sintra, Portugal
Altre informazioni:
A Hottentot fig (Carpobrotus edulis) flower at Cabo da Roca in Portugal. The plant is an invasive species from South Africa. Carpobrotus edulis is a creeping, mat-forming succulent species and member of the Stone Plant family Aizoaceae, one of about 30 species in the genus Carpobrotus. It is also known as ice plant, Highway Ice Plant, Pigface or Hottentot Fig and in South Africa as the Sour Fig (Suurvy; earlier: Hotnosvy), on account of its edible fruit. It was previously classified in genus Mesembryanthemum and is sometimes referred to by this name. The species is native to South Africa but is naturalised in many other regions throughout the world. In several parts of the world, notably Australia, California and the Mediterranean, all of which share a similar climate, the ice plant has escaped from cultivation and has become an invasive species. The ice plant poses a serious ecological problem, forming vast monospecific zones, lowering biodiversity, and competing directly with several threatened or endangered plant species for nutrients, water, light, and space Cabo da Roca is the most westerly point of the European mainland. The cape is in the Portuguese municipality of Sintra, west of the district of Lisbon, forming the westernmost extent of the Serra de Sintra
