NOTES OX mesembryaxtheml':m 73 



William, Anglus, circa 1773 per aliquod tempus, sub sua comm(3ra- 

 tione, longinquiora suscepit itinera, variaque nova et valde curiosa in 

 patriam suam transmisit " (Fl. Cap. x.)- It seems more probable, 

 however, that the Hort. Kevv, reference is to another man of tlie 

 same name whom Thunberg met at the Cape in 1778, and of whom 

 he gives the following account: "I met here with a Mr. Patterson, 

 an Englishman, who was come to this place, in order to collect from 

 the interior of Africa and transmit home to his own country both the 

 seeds and live roots of such j^lants as were scarce and peculiar to these 

 parts. He professed to travel at the expense of certain individuals, 

 and professed some small knowledge of Botan^^, but was in fact a 

 mere gardener" {Travels, iv. 271). 



M. TiRiDiFLORUM Ait. Hort. Kew. ii. 196. 

 Dryander in the MSS. adds descriptive notes to the diagnosis, but 

 the plant is generally recognized, so there seems no need to transcribe 

 them. 



M. L^TE Ait. Hort. Kew. ii. 232. 

 This species, duly entered (though wrongly ascribed to Solander) in 

 Index Keiuensis and recognized by Ha worth, seems to be ignored by 

 later authors — e.g. Sonder (Fl. Cap. ii. 408) and Berger (p. 136) — 

 who take up M. IcBve Thunberg. The diagnoses of the two plants, 

 brief as they are, show^ that they could hardly be identical : that of 

 Hort. Kew. imns — " M. foliis cylindraceis obtusis amplexi caulibus 

 lii>vibus, calycibus quinquelidis : laciniis oblongis obtusis. Upright 

 white-wooded Fig Mar^^gold " : that of Thunberg (Prodr. 1800, 

 p. 90) " M. foliis trigonis Isevibus, caule de cumbente articulato." 

 This latter is of course antedated by the detailed description in Nov. 

 Act. Acad. Cur. viii. App. 16 (1791), and as we have Dryander's 

 unpublished descri23tion, the two may be placed side by side by way 

 of contrast : 



Thunberg. Dryander. 



Planta erecta, glauca, laevis. 

 CauUs filiformis, decumbens, Caulis semiteres. 



articulatus, cinereus, glaber, ra- 



mosus, crassitie dimidia penn*, 



pedalis. 



Rami erecti, breves, foliosi. 



Folia decussata, connata ap- Folia amplexicaulia, laeviter 



proximata, subteretia, supra plani- connata, subcylindracea, obtusa, 



uscuia,obtusa, imi)unctata,glabi-a, Isevia, vix uncialia. 



erecta, pollicaria. -Pef/^^;i6'^^/^axiilares, foliis paulo 



Flores in ramulis terminales, longiores. 



solitarii, flavi. C'ff/y.r quinquefidis : lacinia? ob- 

 P^rMW^'/^/z^w? 4-fidum : lacinise longse, obtusaB, suba^quales. 



duae oppositae breviores. * Corolla rubra, cal3X'e duplo 



longior. 



It w^ill be obvious from these descriptions that the two plants cannot 

 be identical: this Avas pointed out by Haworth (Miscell. 86), who 

 says: "I have not seen this plant, but have taken it from Thunberg's 



