MES 



M E S 



stems : the leaves are connate, spreading, glau- 

 cous, opaque, not marked with lucid dots, some- 

 what sabre-shaped, or attenuate from the mid- 

 dle downwards to the base, where they are semi- 

 cvlmdrie; thickening towards the points, where 

 they are triquetrous, "with a sharp keel, and sides 

 edged with irregular harmless teeth ; terminating 

 in a similar tooth, placed on the inner side : the 

 flowers are large, showy, yellow, opening in the 

 afternoon, and closing in the evening. It is 

 a native of the Cape, flowering from May to 

 July. 



There is a variety which is entirely sessile, of 

 a whitish glaucous colour, with the leaves paler 

 at the base, with frequent round whitish dots, 

 tspeciallv towards the end ; they are shorter than 

 those of the preceding, more rssupine, less tri- 

 quetrous, but with a rounder back, and more 

 frequent, longer, incurved prickles, termi- 

 nated by slender harmless spinules, which are 

 sometimes white, sometimes reddish : the leaves 

 have a white line at the end, which is continued 

 towards the back : there is first a flower in the 

 middle, and afterwards several come out suc- 

 cessively at the sides, all sessile. It is called 

 Cat- Cliap Marigold. 



Mr. Haworth has two other varieties; the 

 Ti^cr-Chap Fig-Marigold, which is stemless in 

 all the stages of its growth; being more succu- 

 lent and gross than the follow ing : the leaves 

 are rathershorter, beset with much longer hairs 

 on the sides, and having numerous whitish spots : 

 the flowers are sessile, yellow, and large; — and 

 the Mouse-Chap Fig-Marigold, in which the 

 branches in very old plants are some inches long, 

 and numerous, forming a fine tufted plant : the 

 leaves connate, when young resembling the gap- 

 ing jaws of a small quadruped, the denticiila- 

 tions on each side resembling teeth ; when old, 

 the leaves spread out, and are even recurved ; all 

 very glaucous, only about a fourth part of the 

 size "of the others, and often roughly dot- 

 ted : the dots lucid, elevated into small tu- 

 bercles : the flowers small and of a yellow 

 colour. 



The thirty-fourth species at first is a low plant, 

 but it becomes larger and stronger; it docs not 

 however rise above a long span in height in six 

 years : the stem is then thick and woody, and 

 several reclining twisted branches spring from 

 it alternately, covered with a dusky reddish bark, 

 smooth, but transversely chinked and irregular ; 

 at the end of which come out several leaves dis- 

 posed crosswise ; they arc thickish, bluntly flat 

 at top, with a roundish back below , more com- 

 pressed towards the end, and terminating in a 

 process at the lower part ; their colour is deep 

 glaucous gTctn, except the old ones, which are 

 ^3 



yellowish, and when dry, brown : the whole co- 

 vered with frequent green dots, pellucid when 

 held up to the light, protuberant towards tin- end 

 of the leaves, and rendering them somewhat 

 rugged there: the peduncles an inch and half or 

 two inches long, bracteated : the flowers openinc 

 in the afternoon, (about four o'clock) cominu- 

 out frequently several from the same peduncle, 

 but much smaller, and of a paler yellow colour 

 than in the Dog-Chap Fig-Marigold. It is a 

 native of the Cape, flowering from May to July. 



The thirty-fifth is a middle sort, between the 

 caulescent and sessile ones, properly belonging 

 to those which are procumbent, and acquiring 

 by age woody branches, short and pressed to the 

 ground, from which) at short distances, and on 

 short slender woodv petioles, of a dusky pale 

 brown colour, spring thick leaves in clusters, 

 bright green and shining, triquetrous inclining to 

 round, wider towards the base, and somewhat 

 flatted on the upper part, the lower part rounded, 

 towards the middle, where the flat part ends ; 

 some short processes come out on both 

 sides, sometimes on one side onlv, and some- 

 times they are wholly wanting; hence to* 

 wards the point the leaves take a different 

 form, and have the sides from round flatted ; 

 they are not however broad and flat, but trique- 

 trous-cylindric. It is a circumstance peculiar 

 to these leaves, that one side of each is much 

 shorter than the other, and hence thev are called 

 difform : they have frequent largish dots on 

 them, which appear pale and pellucid, but some- 

 times dusky green ; they are generallv protube- 

 rant, and thereby render the surface irregular : 

 the peduncles thick, herbaceous, bluntly trique- 

 trous, from half an inch to an inch and half in 

 length : the flowers rather large, like those of the 

 Tongue-leaved sort, but somewhat smaller, and 

 of a deeper yellow, internally of a shining golden 

 colour, externally of a reddish saft>on"-colour, 

 and when far advanced, saffron-coloured within. 

 It is a native of the Cape. 



The thirtv-sixth species has the lower leaves 

 oblique, the others more upright, not at all or 

 but little bent in or sickle-shaped ; they are long, 

 thick, rigid, smooth and shining, flat within or 

 on the top, underneath produced into a sharpish 

 back, which becomes blunter and rounder in the 

 lower part ; all the sides are nearly equal : they 

 are of a white elegantly glaucous colour, except 

 that they are yellowish near the base with slender 

 transverse lines : the flowers are large, yellow, 

 on a long thick peduncle. 



The thirty-seventh has the leaves in it as well 

 as in all the varieties not decussated, but lying 

 in the same oblique plane. It is a native of the 

 Cape. 



