Tas. 7775. 
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM catamirorMe. 
= Native of South Africa. 
Nat. Ord. Ficoipemz.—Tribe MeseMBRYER. 
Genus MesempryantHemum, Linn.; (Benth, & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. 
p. 853, 
MrsEMBRYANTHEMUM (Calamiformia) calamiforme; glaberrimum, caule brevi 
robusto lignoso, foliis 6-8 oppositis basi lata insertis 2-3 poll. longis 
cylindraceis obtusis mucronulatisve carnosis ad } poll. diam. subglaucis 
tenuissime punctatis, floribus psendo-terminalibus solitariis 2-24 poll. 
latis breviter crasse pedunculatis, calycis tubo brevi crasso lobis 5 inequa- 
libus 3 majoribus crasse carnosis marginibus dilatatis quasi bialatis alis 
truncatis apice producto obtuso v. acuto, 2 minoribus submembrana- 
ceis, petalis numero~issimis sepalis 2-3-plo longioribus sub 3-seriatis 
linearibus angustissimis albis apicibus pallide roseis, filamentis inzwqui- 
lonugis petalis multo brevioribus 6-8-seriatis pallidis, antheris parvis 
aurantiacis, ovario conico, stigmatibus 5-8 erectis cuspidatis intus 
barbatis, capsula polysperma. 
M. calamiforme, Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 481. Haw. Obs. Gen. Mesemb. p. 140; Misc. 
Nat. p. 26; Syn. Pl. Suce. p.208: Revis. Plant. Suce.105. DC. Pl. Grasses, 
t. 5; Prodr. vol. iii. p. 424. Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2 vol. iii. p. 215. Salm. 
cL Monogr. Mesembr. § 10, fig. 1. Harv. & Sond, Fl. Cap. vol. ii. 
p- ' ° 
_M. calamiforme, &¢., Dil/en. Hort. Elth. p. 228, t. 186, fig. 228. . 
Ficoidea capensis, humilis, &c., Bradley, Hist. Pl. Succ. Dee. ii. p. 10, fig. 19. 
The genus Mesembryanthemum holds an important place 
in the history of Horticulture. Dillenius, who treats of 
the species known to him at great length, gives an interest- 
ing account of the successive introduction of those known 
to his predecessors. Of these he says 15 were known to 
Bobart (1648); 20 to Breyn (1680); 39 to Ray (1686) ; 
23 to Herman (1687); 2L to Plukenet (1696); 30 to 
Bradley (1716); 36 to Tournefort. Dillenius himself 
describes and figures 47 species, all cultivated in Sherard’s 
garden at Eltham in 1732. Following Dillenius, Linneus 
in the “ Hortus Cliffortianus” (1737) gives 30 species ; and 
in the ‘* Species plantarum” (1758) 85, where he reduces 
some of Dillenius’s species to varieties. Coming down to 
later times, Aiton’s ‘‘ Hortus Kewensis” (ed. I. 1789) 
contains 70 species, and Ed. II. (1811) 175. Haworth’s 
**Revis. Plant. Succ.” (1821) describes 310. Harvey & 
May lst, 1901. 
