Tab. 8674b. 

 MESEMBRYANTHEMUM tuberculosa. 



South Africa. 



Ficoidkae. Tribe Mesembryeae. 

 Mesembryanthemum, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook, f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 853. 



Mesembryanthemum (§ Ringentia) tuberculosum, Eolfe; species nova a 

 M. tigrino, Haw., foliorum facie supero tuberculis obtusis albidulis 

 instructo marginibus sparse spinosia et stylis basi connatis apice valde 

 recurvis differt. 



Herba parva, acaulis. Folia 6-8, subpatentia, deltoideo-ovata, subobtusa, 

 viridia, 2-2 • 5 cm. longa, l'5-2 cm. lata, 1 cm. crassa, supra subconvexa, 

 tuberculis obtusis albidulis instructa, subtus convexa, minute albido- 

 punctata, apice triquetro-compressa. Flores subsessiles, expansi circiter 

 4 cm. diametro. Calyx campanulatus ; lobi oblongi, 1 cm. longi. Pctala 

 numerosissima, patentia, lutea, 1-3-1 -5 cm. longa. Styli 5, basi connati, 

 apice valde recurvi, papillosi.^R. A. Rolfe. 



The attractive Mesembryanthemum figured on the lower 

 portion of our plate is one for whose iutroduction horti- 

 culture is indebted to Mr. N. S. Pillans of Cape Town, 

 by whom it was communicated some ten years ago, along 

 with several other species, to Mr. G. Elisha, Canonbury 

 Park Road North, London. The example of the species 

 now described, which was labelled as being from Nama- 

 qualand, arrived in a condition which rendered cultiva- 

 tion impossible. Two seed capsules, however, were still 

 attached to the plant; these were removed and kept 

 until the following spring, when the seeds Avere separated 

 and sown in a small pan half tilled with soil and lightly 

 covered with a layer of fine earth and sand. The pan, 

 covered with a sheet of glass, was placed in a sunny spot 

 in a greenhouse, and by the end of the summer five small 

 but vigorous plants were raised. The appearance of the 

 plants called to mind M. tigrinum, Haw., but from the 

 outset it was realised that 'they could hardly be that 

 species, the leaves being of a much darker green. The 

 appearance on the later-formed leaves of the small raised 

 points, which became more pronounced during the 

 following season, made it certain that this Namaqua 



August, 1916. 



