h^ 



r 'Ti 



' - ■ 



SPECIES OF MESEMBRYANTllEMUM. 



67 



Described from a living plimt which flowered in August, although 

 according to Bevger it also fiovvcrs in May, 



This species has been mistaken by Berger for M, carinans^ Haw., which 

 is two or three times larger and different in general appearance, althouglt 

 undoubtedly allied. 



§ FISSA. 



N, E. Br. Acaulis. Folia 2 vel 4: si 2 erecta et in 



corpus 



3-4^ cm. 



altum, 2-3 cm. 



latum et 15-20 mm. crassum 



> 



compresso-ovoideuui vel oblongum obtusuni jul medium vel ultra fissum 

 connata, si 4 inferlora subpatula, glabra^ albida vel albo-virentia. Pedun- 

 culus foliis suba^quans compressus, 10-13 mm. latns. Calyx 7-8 lobus, 

 glaber ; lobi \:)-^ mm. longi, 3^-5 mm, lati, ol)longi vel ovati, obtusi, Corolla 



ad 4 cm. diametro; petala numerosa, 3-4 seriate, liberii, l|-2 cm, longa, 

 i-l| mm, lata, linearia, obtusa, albn. Stamina numeroi^a in annulum erecto^ 

 ])atentia. 



South Africa, Ladismith Div, Between Garcias Pass and Ladismith, 



Pillmis, 890 ! 



Living plants of this species were sent in lOOtJ by Mr. N. S. Pillans to 

 Kew, where they unfortunately soon died; a seed-pod on one of them >v^as, 

 however, given to Dr. F, H.Rodier Heath, after wliom I have much pleasure 

 in naming it, and who succeeded in raising a number of plants from the 

 seeds and has subsequently distributed several of them, M, Jfeafhn is allied 



/ 



Haw\, but is a very much larger plant and wliiter in colour. 



N-15. — JA fissum has been placed by authors under the section Obtam. but 



it is obviouslv different in chan 



fissoides. Haw, (M, 



Haw,)j upon which that section was founded^ and appears to me to have no 

 affinity w^ith that species, for Af.jissouleH is evidently a hard-leaved species 

 with the fully developed leaves always spreading, and seems not to ditfer in 

 any character except size from the section Maijmpnnda ; whilst M.fissum is 

 a soft-leaved species, and its pair of leaves for a considerable period are 

 closely applied to one another so as to form an oblong body cleft down the 

 centre nearly to the base by a fissure resembling a knife-cut that divides but 

 does not separate them. 



I therefore would place M./issum and its close ally ii. /JeatJiii in a group 

 by themselves, for which the sectional name Fiifsa mav be used. 



§ FISSURATA. 



M. DAMARANUM, ^Y. U. Br, Corpuscula 2-3 cm. alta, 2^-^ cm. lata et 

 17-23 mm. crassa, obconica, trnncafn, fissura transveri^a 6-10 mm. alta 

 biloba, lobis apice subplains vel levissime convexis, glabra, palJidi^sime 

 brunnea vel clnereo-brunnea liiicis ramosis impros&is bruinieis notata. Calj: 

 exsertus, 5-lobus, compressus, 10-11 mm. latus ; tubus nullus; lobi 5-0 ram. 



