SUCCULENT PLANTS. 191 



fruit, as the specific name implies, is edible. The 

 flower bears an outward resemblance to the inflores- 

 cence of a rayed Composite ; hence the old name 

 " Fig Marigold." They are said, like the rose, to 

 range through all the colours with the exception of 

 blue. You may sometimes see these creeping plants 

 so covered with flowers that the green part is 

 completely hidden. A section of the ovary shows a 

 remarkable placentation, which arises, according to 

 Eichler (" Bliithen-diagramme," p. 1*23), from the more 

 rapid growth of the outer wall. A similar peculiarity 

 is seen in the Pomegranate. Eichler's book, which I 

 have just quoted, is a marvellously complete treatise 

 on the structure of the flower, but marred by 

 heaviness and dulness. " Mesembryanthemum " means 

 " flower of the midday " or south : the same root 

 occurs in " ephemeral," &c. 



Beside the three orders already mentioned, the 

 Crassulas (Echeveria, &c.), furnish succulent plants. 

 Juicy plants are found here even in families where 

 our British species give no indication of thickened 

 leaf or stem. Who would suspect a Kleinia (or 

 Cacalia) of belonging to the Composite ? What a 

 surprise it is when a flower like a Groundsel (Senecio) 

 appears on this smooth green cylinder ! Kleinia is 

 furnished with a very few small leaves, like those of 

 a Sorrel Dock (Rumex Acetosella). A slight chill 

 brings these off, and the plant then looks still more 

 like a sausage. It does not appear to suffer from the 

 loss of its leaves. 



The great majority of the plants in the Succulent 

 House at Kew belong to the following seven orders : 

 Liliaceaj, Amaryllidaceae, Cactacere, Euphorbiacea?, 



