Sonder (' Flora Capensis,' v. 2. p. 412, whence we have obtained 

 the above synonymy), on the sandy flats near Cape Town, etc. 

 M. rubrocinctum differs from our variety solely in the trivial 

 character of a frequent red line along the leaf-margins. The 

 fruit is said to be eatable. 



Descr. Stem two to four feet, procumbent, pointed, the young 

 shoots compressed and angular. Leaves two to three inches 

 long, about three-quarters of an inch in thickness a little above 

 the middle, triquetrous, pointed, and more or less narrowed to 

 the base, where the opposite leaves are shortly connate; the 

 keel, and sometimes the upper edges of the leaf, are either ser- 

 rulate or entire, with or without a red line. Peduncle two- 

 edged, with a pair of connate bracts. Stamens four to five 

 inches in diameter ; petals purple, linear, emarginate. Anthers 

 dark-purple. Stigmas twelve to fourteen, pale-yellow. 



Fig. 1. Calyx and stigmas, after removal of the petals and stamens. 



