Plate 2528. 





BULBINE MESEMBRYANTHEMOIDES, Haw. 



LlLIACEiE. 



B. mesembryanthemoides, Haw. in TilJoch Phil. Mag. 1825, p. 31 ; 



species insignis foliis subterraneis ab omnibus distincta. 



Tubera ^ poll, longa,2_|— 4 lin. crassa, oblonga, attenuata, cnrnosa, sim 

 plicia vel subpalmatifida. Folia 2-3, omnino nisi quod apices emarcidi 

 terrain perrumpunt, subterranea, j-1 \ poll, longa, 2 3 lin. crassa, crasso- 

 carnosa, pagina altera plana, altera valcle convexa, striata, viridia, glabra. 

 Pedunctdus simplex, tenuis, erectus, glaber, parte nuda 2-3 poll, longa, 

 parte florigera ^-l | poll, longa. Flores 2 6, laxe racemosi, lutei. Bractece 

 \~\ lin. longse, ovatse, acuminata, membranacese. Pedicelli 2-\\ lin. 



longi, tiliformes, glabri. Perianthii segmenta '2~2\ lin. longa, glabra, 

 exteriora circa § lin. lata, lineari -oblonga, obtusa, interiora 1-1^ lin. 

 lata, elliptico-lanceolata, obtusa. Staminum tilamenta pilis capitatis 

 barbata. Ovarium globoso-trigonum, glabrum ; stylus tiliformis, glaber, 

 stigmate simplice. — Schultes Syst. Veg. vii. p. 448 ; Kunth Enum. iv. 

 p. 568 • Baker in Flor. Cap. vi. p. 365. Anthericum mesembry- 

 anthemoides, Baker in Journ. Bot. 1872, p. 136. 



South Africa : among shrubs near the Zwartkops River, Uitenhage 

 Division, ZeyJuw, 1068 ; Albany Division, Bowker. 



Concerning this curious plant Professor P. ilacowan, who has sent 

 tubers to Ivew, writes : 'I am sending you a little postal-box contain- 

 ing Bui bine -mesembryanthemoides from VVolve Fontein. It is not 

 easily detected ; the two swollen leaves lie almost underground, and at 

 the flowering stage have almost always lost by exsiccation such part as 

 protrudes into the hot pulsating Karoo atmosphere. The underground 

 part is alive and green, the ragged brown projecting tips are quite 

 dead. I am fortunate in being able to distribute it in a fruiting state.' 

 The accompanying plate was prepared almost entirely from a coloured 

 drawing in the Kew collection by James Bowie, dated 1823. — N. E. 



Brown. 



Fig. 1, a flower ; 2, the same with two of the perianth-segments removed ; 3, apex 

 of style and stigma ; 4, transverse section of orary. All enlarged. 



