Carpobrotus chilensis (sea fig) pink flower

Carpobrotus is a ground-creeping plant with succulent leaves in the genus Carpobrotus, native to South Africa. It is also known as Hottentot-fig (though this nickname is considered a racist term) ice plant, highway ice plant, or pigface, and in South Africa as the sour fig (suurvy).

It was previously classified in Mesembryanthemum and is sometimes referred to by this name: Mesembryanthemum edule.

Carpobrotus is a creeping, mat-forming succulent species and member of the fig-marigold family, Aizoaceae, one of about 30 species.
the more diminutive and less aggressive Carpobrotus chilensis (sea fig), with which it hybridizes readily.

It needs well-drained soil, a sunny position, and room to spread. It is an excellent evergreen, drought- and wind-resistant groundcover; it can be planted on flat, sandy ground, on loose sand dunes, lime-rich and brackish soils, and gravelly gardens, as well as in containers, rockeries, and embankments, and will cascade over terrace walls.

Its leaves are edible, as are its fruit, as with some other members of the family Aizoaceae. In South Africa the sour fig’s ripe fruit are gathered and either eaten fresh or made into a very tart jam.

Mainly practiced in South Africa, the different parts of the Carpobrotus edulis are used in different forms in traditional medicine. Mostly, the fruits and flowers are eaten raw or cooked for fungal and bacterial infections. The leaves can be ingested orally for digestive problems or the juice can be sucked out to help a sore throat. The juice can also be mixed into a lotion base and used for external issues such as ringworm, bruises, sunburns, and cracked lips.