266 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



creeping fleshy-leaved plants, whose daisy-like blos- 

 soms with very numerous narrow petals yellow, 

 white, and of various shades of red, open only in 

 the sun the reason of the sesquipedalian name, 

 which means * * flower of the midday. ' ' They are par- 

 ticularly liked as coverings to sunny banks and slopes 

 which they overspread with beauty at practically 

 no expense of care after becoming rooted, as their 

 succulent leaves and stems make them famous 

 drought resisters. Every one who has visited South- 

 ern California in April and May has been struck 

 with the prodigal color of one small-flowered sort, 

 which forms carpets of solid pink in gardens, along 

 streets, and particularly on the hillsides and earth 

 cliffs of many of the beach resorts. There are in 

 the world some three hundred species of Mesembry- 

 anthemum, mostly native to the rocky sands and 

 arid plains of South Africa, but a few are indig- 

 enous to the Mediterranean basin and to Austral- 

 asia. Two or three species grow wild in California, 

 and have been a puzzle to botanists who have never 

 satisfactorily accounted for their presence there. 

 One of these (M. crystallmum}, which is found on 

 Southern California sea beaches and strangely 

 enough at one or two places on the Mojave Desert, 

 is also native to Greece and the Canary Islands. It 

 is remarkable for its glittering, often reddish foli- 



