Botanical Family · Caryophyllales

Aizoaceae

Carpet-Weed Family

12 speciesOrder Caryophyllales8+ well-known plants

The Aizoaceae family (Carpet-Weed Family) is a botanical family placed in the order Caryophyllales. In the SASYA catalogue it spans 12 species across 8 genera. Its members are predominantly herbs. Well-represented genera include Mollugo, Glinus and Trianthema. Several members are valued in traditional medicine. Familiar examples include Prostrate Purslane, Sand Herbage and Hairy Carpet Weed.

Browse all 12 species ↓

Representative specimen · Aizoaceae

Key pattern

Fleshy, water-storing leaves, often opposite and sometimes covered in glistening bladder-cells that sparkle like ice crystals, on low, mat-forming succulent herbs; many-petalled, daisy-like flowers open only in full sun.

Succulent tissue and salt-tolerant physiology let the family colonise coastal sands and saline, arid ground where few other herbs survive.

Identify the species

Which Aizoaceae species is this?

Answer what you can see and narrow it down to a single Aizoaceae species.

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Leaf ShapeWhat shape are the fleshy leaves?

Lanceolate

Narrow, linear, fleshy

Ovate

Round, fleshy

Spoon-shaped

Family identification method

To check whether a plant belongs to Aizoaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.

Learn the full family-identification method