264 
esious plant. Inthis state it remains ready to be wafted by 
the first gale that blows; but, to insure the ultimate object of 
Nature, the transportation of the seed, the long capillary style 
and its round stigma remain attached to it, and the latter 
being too large to slip through the narrow throat of the 
corolla, the seed is thus suspended by the style, and descends 
to the ground somewhat in the manner of an aeronaut in his 
parachute. 
* Amongst a great variety of plants almost peculiar to 
South Africa, the Mesembryanthemum, or Fig-Marigold, 
deserves particular notice. The principal species of this 
plant, of which upwards of one hundred * are enumerated, 
seem admirably adapted for fixing the loose, shifting sand, 
with which a great part of this country is covered. Spreading 
over the ground from a central point, a single plant shades a 
great extent of surface, and affords a singular relief to the 
eye oppressed by the powerful reflection of light. In its 
thick fleshy leaves, it possesses a magazine of juices, which 
enables it to bear without shrinking a long privation 
moisture, at the same time that it gives shelter to the nascent 
shoots of other plants which spring up in its bosom. The 
mucilaginous capsules of the Mesembryanthemum edule, or 
Hottentot Fig, are the chief material of an agreeable preserve. 
* The sprouts of the Anthericum hispidum are eaten as @ 
substitute for Asparagus. They are by no means unpalatable, 
though a certain clamminess they possess, which induces the 
Same sensation as if a person was pulling hairs from between 
his lips, renders them at first unpleasant. The root of à 
species of Liane, which grows to upwards of a stone weight, 
is eaten by the Hottentots, and goes by the name of the Hot- 
tentot Melon. It is firmer in substance than a turnep, and 
resembles it in taste, but without its acrimony. Might not 
this root, if carefully cultivated, prove a good substitute for 
the Manioc, with- which the black population of South 
America and the West Indies is chiefiy fed? Even in 1ts 
on mai 
ad 
bilan” pared and sixteen in De Candolle's “ Prodromus Systematis — 
