r.T 



m F. 



< 



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i 



SPECIES OF MESEMBIIYANTIIEMUM. 



127 



and the other Is probably in the Asa Gray Hcrbarinin at Harvard University, 



United States, where the first set of duplicates of l^urchelFs plants were 

 sent. 



Burcliell has stated that it is '^allied to M, pulchellum^ Haw.'' But this 

 is quite a mistake, for it belongs to the very different section Va(jinata^ and 

 is very similar to M, parvijloraui^ Haw., having the same stout branclies 

 and tl)e same hooked apiculus to the leaves, which are also simihir in pcse 



■ 



and shape, but the flowers are rosy instend of white*, and^I do not detect any 

 ininiite serrulation on tlie keel of the leaves such as is characteristic of 

 M. parvijlorum^ Haw. Berger has wrongly placed M. jiarvijforum as a 

 synonym of rhjldumy Haw., but the latter has more slendei' branches ;md its 

 leaves are more spreading, less stout, and without the hooked apiculus at 

 their tips, wdnlst the flowers of AL rujidnm are 12-14 mm. in diameter and 

 those of M parvijiorimt only 0-8 mm. The dried leaves of M. campestre are 

 remarkably wrinkled, so that they are i)robab]y larger than the dimensions 

 above fjiven both in leucth and thickness. 



M. couiARiUM, Burch. (§ Yaginata). A shrub or shrublet. The type 

 specimen consists of a single piece, branching so as to form a pyrajnidal 

 panicle about 27 cm, long and 18 cm. broad, with numerous cymeSj 

 appearing leafless in the dried state. Main stem 4 mm. thick, probably 

 stouter when alive, with internodos 1^-2 cm. long^ distinctly tubercnlate, 

 and rough to the touch, but })Os:^ibly through shrinkage in drying, light 

 brow^n; branches alternate, the lower abont 10 cm, long, the npper griidually 

 shorter, very spreading, straight or slightly recurving, about 3 mm. thick, 

 with internodes 8-15 mm. long, the lower with 2-3 {the upper with fewer) 

 alternate branchlets 5-20 mm. long, bearing cymes of apparently 5-12 



of each branch collectively forming an apparently one- 

 broad. Leaves opposite, very suiull. 



flow 



tl 



-ers, rne cymes 



sided conjpound cyme 2^-1 cm. 



1-1^ mm. long and about as broud^ ^ mm. thick at tlie base^ resembling flat 



deltoid acute scales, probably larger wdien alive, spreading, contiate at the 

 base. Bracts like the leaves, but rather smaller. Calyx and corolla not 

 seen, as the specimen is in ripe fruit. Capsule 4-5 mm. in diameter, -i-5- 

 cellod. — AL coriurhovy Burch. Trav. vol. i. p. 2-43 (1822), name only. DC, 

 Prodr. vob iii. p. 451: Sender in FL Cap. vol. ii, p. 4C0 : Berger, Mesemb. 

 p. 2'J2. 



PiiiLirsTOWN Div. Near Petrusville, March 2, 1813, Burcliell, 2679 ! 



De Candolle has wrongly quoted BurchelTs number 2487-3 for this 

 species, but that nundjer, as stated by Burchell himself, belongs to a species 

 of Ficus, As there may also arise a misconception that Al. coriarium was 

 collected in the same region (Little Koggeveld) where he was on July 11, 

 1811j, when he mentions in his ' Travels' that he found the Hottentots using 

 the bark of an Acacia for tanning leatlier, and states that this Alesenibry- 



