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SPECIES OF JIESEMDEYANTHEMUJr. 55 



belongino- to it, and to point out that this work can onh/ he cpctualhj 



accompli shed by an inrest'ujailoii of the informathm stored vp in the Keio 



Jferharium and at the Bntish Jfnseuni. At the latter estublisliment iliero are 



some drawings made by Massou in South A^frica representing some o£ the 



species he introduced into this country which were described by Aiton and 



Thunberg, and some others of cultivated plants by Miss Ann Lee and by 



Simon Taylor, made between 1776 and 1778 *. In the Kew Herbarium are 



the numerous drawings above mentioned, which represent the types oE 



Haworth's species, and in some cases, as in those of M. aloidcs, Haw,, 



21, sulcatum, Haw., M. cyllndncum, Haw., &c., the drawing represents all 



that is accurately known of the plant at the present time. As age prevents 



me from undertaking the task of revising the whole of this enormous genus, 



which is undoubtedly the largest in South Africa, I deem it advisable to 



indicate some (not all) of the species I have found to require revision, and 



hav(; therefore given descriptions of them compiled from translations of 



Ha worth's original descriptions combined with characters omitted by him 



taken from the drawings at Kew, accompanied by explanatory notes, so as 



to give a more complete account of tliese species than has hitherto been 



published, as well as to correct their synonymy. Also on the plates 



illustrating this contribution I have copied in black and white a few of the 



drawings at Kew, or portions of them, in order to show what some of the 



imperfectly known species described by Haworth are like. For this privilege 



I am greatly indebted to the President of the Linnean Society, Sir David 



Prain, who, in his capacity as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 



has kindly granted me permission to copy and publish them. Excluding 



those species of older authors of which it is necessary to change the name 



and those figured by Salm-Dyck under wrong determinations to which I have 



given new names, all the naw species except four are described or figured 



from living i)lants cultivated by myself or at Kew. Many of them belong 



to that very remarkable section of the genus generally known as the 



Sphjcroid group, and of them no illustration nor English description is given, 



as these will be added in a future monograph of that group and its allies 



which I have in preparation ; for these plants, owing to tlieir very 



remarkable character and the small amount of pot-room and attention that 



they require, are rapidly gaining favour with plant-lovers. 



With reference to the nomenclature of cultivated species of Mesemhryan- 

 themum, I will here point out that it cannot be too widely known that seeds 

 produced upon cultivated plants are likely to generate hybrids unless every 

 care Is taken to prevent cross-fertilization with anotli<>r species. Some of 

 those in cultivation under various names are not typical of the species they 



* See Biitten: *' Notes on Meseuibnjaitfhcmum," Journal of Botany, Iv. (]d}7\ 

 pp. 65-74, 



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