Mesembrvpnthenurti and some new P'enere senarated from it. 

 Gard. Ghron. HI. 70: 125. 1921. 



125 Although the f^enus I-eserribrypnthemum contains several hundred 

 srec^es, mr-ny of vrhich have showy flowers, it does not seeia to 

 find much favour ^"ith the horticulturists of the present day, for 

 there ere comrpratively few v/ho cultivate them, and they are not 

 to he found in many gardens. Yet where theA'" can be fully exposed 

 to the sun they make a ffranddisplay of flov/ers, and require much 

 less attention than many other plants. 



The members of this ^renus undoubtedly merit more recognition 

 and ariT^reciation by the p-ardener than they usually get in this 

 country, for none can deny the beauty of the flowers, their only 

 fault being that they love sunshine, and many kinds v;ill only ex- 

 pend their flov^ers when the sun shines upon them, others only at 

 certain hours of the day, end others at nipht. ^iostly they are 

 cultivated under ^lass, but they thrive best when exposed rs much 

 as nossible to air and sunshine. 



It ma3'" not, perha-ps, be generally known that in the south of 

 'Snfi'l'^nd and '"ales, and even' on the cliffs of the east coast at 

 Bawdsey I«-Fnor, near Felixstov.'e, I am informed by i-^r. Irving that 

 manv species are grov-n in the open air and are quite hardy, for 

 thev vrithstand the average winter, and flov^er in great profusion 

 in the summer, making a grand display in such rdaces. Whilst ad- 

 mirinf^ a fine clumr of I'-, falciforme growing out-of-doors in this 

 way at Tenby, and so densely covered with flowers that they touch- 

 ed one another so ^s to nearly conceal the riant, I 

 126 v/as told by the 1p dy who owned it that, although it f lov ered in 

 this profuse vray when treated as a hardy plant, yet v/hen grovm in 

 her greenhouse, it produced only a fevr flowers, thus demonstrating 

 the nreference of these rlants for open-air treatment. 



Among those that I think could be grown in the open air success- 

 fully, especially near the corst, or treated as bedding plants, 

 are ^-. falciforme, I-. falcatura, I-. hisridum, f"^. coccineum, a--, 

 Bro-i'-nii (which is rrobably a garden hybrid), M. luteum,^''. aureum, 

 M, polyanthum, I'-', multiflorum, ^. deltoides, i-. ^-^aw-orthii, IvI, 

 heteropetalum, and I--, multiradia turn (syn, M, blandum) . 



Unless the season vrere unusually wet and cold, I believe most, 

 if not ell, of these w^ould thrive and make a good display if thus 

 treated, but they v/ould require to be grown in porous v/ell-drained 

 soil. ?ie^. 4° illustrates the kind of display these plants make 

 under favourable conditions. It represents a clump of ^-. lineare, 

 Thunb. (better known as '■•'. tricolor and ^vl, m^'ropeura) , a very pretty 

 annual, vath linear channelled leaves, and ^aisy-like flowers that 

 vary in colour being v;hite or purple, or purple with a white eye. 

 "^et f^ll cpnnot be grown in this m^anner, many being impatient of 

 too much water or great humidity of the air when they require to 

 rest, but during the warm.er part of the year, if they could be 

 placed in the open air, fully exposed to the sun, and protected by 

 a glass roof (without sides) to shelter them from rain, and care- 

 ful Iv ^"atered, I believe all the species would thrive much better 

 than they do as grown in a greenhouse. 



Qurinf' a length^'' experience in the cultivation of the stemless 

 ST^ecies of this genus, I have found it preferable to viater these 

 plrnts either hj standinc' the ^ots containing them in a shallov; 

 trav of water and alio'- the v/ater to soak upwards, or by plunging 

 the i^ots in earth and keeping that earth damr^, without watering on 

 the tor of the soil in "vhich the plant is grov.'ing, althoug>li during 



