guerichianum'' seedling, showing the epidermal bladder cells that inspired the name "ice plant" The family Aizoaceae is widely recognised by taxonomists. It once went by the botanical name "
Ficoidaceae", now disallowed. The
APG II system of 2003 (unchanged from the
APG system of 1998) also recognizes the family, and assigns it to the order
Caryophyllales in the clade
core eudicots. The APG II system also classes the former families
Mesembryanthemaceae Fenzl,
Sesuviaceae Horan. and
Tetragoniaceae Link under the family
Aizoaceae. The common Afrikaans name "vygie" meaning "small fig" refers to the
fruiting capsule, which resembles the true fig. Glistening epidermal bladder cells give the family its common name "ice plants". Most fig-marigolds are
herbaceous, rarely somewhat woody, with
sympodial growth and
stems either erect or prostrate.
Leaves are simple, opposite or alternate, and more or less succulent with entire (or rarely toothed) margins.
Flowers are perfect in most species (but unisexual in some), actinomorphic, and appear singularly or in few-flowered cymes developing from the leaf axils.
Sepals are typically five (3–8) and more or less connate (fused) below. True
petals are absent. However, some species have numerous linear petals derived from staminodes. The seed capsules have one to numerous seeds per cell and are often
hygrochastic, dispersing seeds by "jet action" when wet. == Distribution ==