MES 



M E S 



the edges, -with a white midrib : the membrane qticnt green dots, pellucid when held up to the 



at the base is ciliate ; the rest of the leaf nearly 

 smooth, or having distant small white hairs 

 scattered over both sides : the flowers are soli- 

 tary, terminating, rarely seen, opening to a very 

 warm sun only in the forenoon. It is a native 

 of the Cape. 



The seventeenth species has woody stems, at 

 bottom bav : the branches yellowish-brown, 



light ; all the angles blunt, slightly swelled at 

 the inner bases, very firm to the touch, termi- 

 nating in a very small white cartilaginous point, 

 or harmless bristle : the upper leaves are much 

 shorter : the spines appear as if terminating, 

 but soon cease to be so, from the protrusion of 

 young shoots ; they are branched, nearly hori- 

 zontal, divaricating and trichotomous, each 



procumbent, round at bottom, but somewhat from half an inch to an inch in length, awl- 

 angular above: the peduncles, however, are shaped, very sharp, resembling those of the 

 round : the leaves are acutelv triquetrous, glau- common Hawthorn, but not so strong or 

 cous, somewhat shorter and thicker, rougher pungent, covered with a grayish bark, and be- 

 and more rigid, with frequent tubercles larger set with a pair of distinct, opposite, chiefly 

 and whiter, especially on the back, than in the barren leaves, like tho«e of the branches, but 

 fortieth sort : the flowers are solitary, few only a-third of the size : the flowers small, 

 (two or three), violet purple and shining, but pale violet purple, on slender, leafless, green 

 becoming; paler, opening two or three times, peduncles. It is a native of the Cape. 

 before and after noon : the petals mostly of the The twenty-first species forms a low, much 

 same size, entire or slightly cloven at the end, branched, spreading shrub; and, when old, has 

 firmly connected at the base ; they end suddenly a very large tuberous root, sometimes as big as a 

 ia filaments, which are not scattered, but col- man's head, partly protruded above the surface 



lected into a head about the stamen*, 

 crown. It is a native of the Cape. 



The eighteenth has the leaves between papu- 

 lose and tubercled ; much rougher, more glau- 

 cous, and more acutely pointed, than in any 

 other reptant species : the branches are angular, 

 and finally somewhat woody : in its triquetrous 



like a the stem woody, very thick at bottom, covered 

 with a bay-coloured bark : the branches bend- 

 ing, entwined: the leaves short, bluntly trique- 

 trous, with the back convex, the inner or upper 

 surface somewhat swelling, subglaucous, with 

 silver dots, so small as not to be visible except 

 when the sun shines : the flowers are at the ends 



leaves and reptant stems it is allied to the twenty- of the branches, on slender cinereous, or reddish 

 fourth sort. In the open air it will extend the peduncles ; are small, of a pale red or vinous co- 

 branches above a foot and a half every way, and lour: petals not numerous, broadish, blunt, equal 



they are fixed firmly to the ground at every joint 

 by strong fibres. It is a native of the Cape, 

 flowering in July and August. 



The nineteenth species has the stems slender 

 and round: the branches rather frequent, reclin, 



in size: the stamens collected into a bottle in the 

 middle. It flowers about noon, and is a native 

 of the Cape, flowering from June to September. 

 It is observed, that in old plants the extreme 

 branches sometimes become thorny ; which 



in<r, with muchsmallerand more recurved leaves- thorns are the peduncles of the preceding year; 

 havincr only one short spinule at the back : they thorns also sometimes come out from the fork- 

 end in a spinule short and whitish : the stems ings of the branches, instead of flowers, 

 and branches, though rigid, are procumbent : The twenty-second has the stems woodv, 

 the leaves, and intemodes, which are elonga- procumbent, slender, round, with a yellowish 



the branches from each of the upper 

 the leaves on the inner surface flat, on 

 the outer convex, bright green, inclining to 

 gray, from their slcnderness often hanging 

 down, appearing dotted when held up to the 

 light : the flowers at the ends of the branches 

 solitary, on long slender peduncles ; they are 

 large, especially on young plants, pale scarlet, 

 shining, and appearing powdered with gold dust 



tions of the leaves, investing the stems, are bark 

 dotted with small dots of a fuller glaucous axils 

 green colour, and not s - white : the bark of the 

 stem rather of a yellow and brown dusky 

 whitish colour : the internodes are thickened 

 above, and narrower beneath : the flowers are 

 axillary, on leafy peduncles. It is a native of 

 the Cape, flowering from June to August. 

 There are different varieties. 



The twentieth is an upright thorny shrub, in full sunshine: the petals very numerous ; the 



from two to three feet high, much branched : inner ones gradually smaller, entire or cuspidate 



the branches opposite, axillary, ascending, at the end, sometimes slightly bifid, cohering 



roundish-compressed, with a smooth cinereous at bottom : the flowers abundant, and opening; 



bark, throwing out in various places branching several days successively about noon, especially 



spines : the leaves are in pairs, at an interval of in June. 



an inch or an inch and half, glaucous, with Ire- According to Mr. Haworth, in many stages of 



2 



