M ES 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MES 



121 



33. Mesembryanthemum Tuberosum ; Tuberous-rooted Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves awl-shaped, papulose, distinct, patulous 

 at the tip ; root headed. This forms a low, much branched, 

 and spreading shrub ; and when old has a very large tuberous 

 root, sometimes as big as a man's head, partly protruded 

 above the surface. It "flowers about noon. Native of the 

 Cape. See the fifth species. 



34. Mesembryanthemum Tenuifolium ; Slender-leaved Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves subfiliform, smooth, distinct, longer than 

 the internodes; stems procumbent. Stems woody, slender, 

 round, with a yellowish bark; 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 in full sun-shine : they are 

 abundant, and open several days successively about noon, 

 especially in June. Native of the Cape. See the fifth species. 



35. Mesembryanthemum Stipulaceum ; Upright Shrubby 

 Fig Marigold. Leaves subtriquetrous, compressed, curved 

 inwards, dotted, distinct, heaped, margined at the base. 

 Plant upright, woody, firm, growing to a larger size than 

 most of the species ; flowers terminating in a sort of corymb, 

 large, showy, and purple. Native of the Cape. See the fifth 

 species. 



36. Mesembryanthemum Leave ; Upright White-wooded 

 Fig Marigold. Leaves cylindric, blunt, embracing, even; 

 calices five-cleft; segments oblong, blunt. Native of the 

 Cape. See the fifth species. 



37. Mesembryanthemum Deflexum; Bending Fig Mari- 

 gold. Leaves three-sided, acute, glaucous ; dots obsolete, 

 somewhat rugged ; interior calicine segments membranaceous. 

 This is a very low, small, spreading, or trailing shrub. It 

 flowers from July to October. Native of the Cape. See the 

 fifth species. 



38. Mesembryanthemum Australe ; New Zealand Fig Ma- 

 rigold. Leaves subtriquetrous, small-dotted, connate, blunt- 

 ish; stem round, creeping; peduncles bluntly ancipital, soli- 

 tary. Native of New Zealand, flowering in July and August. 



39. Mesembryanthemum Crassifolium ; Thick-leaved Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves semicylindric, undotted, connate, three- 

 sided at top. This is a handsome plant, with creeping stems 

 a span long, thickly furnished with leaves ; and the branches, 

 which sometimes hang a full yard from the pot, are naturally 

 prostrate and reptant, angular and slender. Native of the 

 Cape. See the fifteenth species. 



40. Mesembryanthemum Falcatum ; Sickle-leaved Fig Ma- 

 rigold. Leaves somewhat sabre-shaped, curved inwards, 

 dotted, distinct; branches round. It is a very low, bushy, 

 divaricating, almost decumbent shrub, rarely above six or 

 eight inches high; leaves very minute and much crowded, 

 glaucous, with smooth pellucid dots; flowers purple, large, 

 solitary, opening in the morning. It flowers abundantly great 

 part of the summer. Native of the Cape. See the fifth species. 



41. Mesembryanthemum Glomeratum; Clustered Fig Ma- 

 rigold. Leaves roundish, compressed, dotted, distinct; stem 

 panicled, many-flowered. This is a small, very bushy, and 

 rather glaucous shrub, from six inches to a foot high. It is 

 a very variable little plant, but not in the least liable to be 

 taken for any other species ; it assumes different appearances, 

 according to its treatment, and the different stages of growth. 

 The very numerous beautiful purple flowers, covering the 

 whole plant, and produced every season, make this a valua- 

 ble species. It flowers from June to August. Native of the 

 Cape. See the fifth species. 



42. Mesembryanthemum Brevifolium ; Short-leaved Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves cylindric, very blunt, papulose, spread- 

 ing ; branches diffused. This is a slender, branched, woody 



shrub, two feet high, or more. It assumes very different 

 appearances, according to its age and the treatment it receives. 

 In the full ground under a south wall, in a poor soil, the 

 leaves will be above an inch in length and nearly semicylin- 

 dric, and the young shoots will be covered with pilescent 

 papulae, pointing downwards, and appearing in a microscope 

 like minute hooks of glass or ice. Whereas the leaves in the 

 stove, when not luxuriant, are seldom a quarter of an inch in 

 length, and the papulae are not pilescent. Native of the 

 Cape. See the fifth species. 



43. Mesembryanthemum Loreiim ; Leathery-stalked Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves semicylindric, recurved, heaped, gibbous 

 at the inner base, and connate ; stem pendulous. Native of 

 the Cape. See the fifth species. 



44. Mesembryanthemum Filamentosum ; Thready Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves equilaterally triangular, acute, somewhat 

 dotted and connate ; angles rugged ; branches hexangular ; 

 plant trailing on the ground ; flowers purple, pretty, not 

 showy, on peduncles two inches long, with a pair of leaves 

 on each side. 



45. Mesembryanthemum Acinaciforme ; Cimetar-leaved Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves cimetar-shaped, undotted, connate, rug- 

 ged at the angle of the keel ; petals lanceolate. Flowers 

 large, three inches in diameter, handsome, of a very vivid 

 shining purple. It seldom produces flowers. 



46. Mesembryanthemum Forficatum; Forked Fig Mari- 

 gold. Leaves cimetar-shaped, blunt, undotted, connate, 

 thorny at the tip, ancipital. This is a decumbent plant, and 

 almost herbaceous while young, but becoming shrubby by age. 

 Native of the Cape. See the fifth species. 



47. Mesembryanthemum Spectabile ; Showy or Great Pur- 

 ple-flowered Fig Marigold. Leaves perfoliate, very long, 

 glaucous, dotted, quite entire, three-sided, awl-shaped at 

 the tip ; stem woody, ascending. This is a shrubby plant, 

 not erect; flowers solitary, very large, bright purple, making 

 a fine contrast with the very glaucous leaves and deep brown 

 branches. Native of the Cape. See the first species. 



*** With yellow Corollas. 



48. Mesembryanthemum Edule ; Eatable Fig Marigold. 

 Leaves equilaterally triangular, acute, strict, undotted, con- 

 nate, subserrate at the keel ; stem ancipital. Flowers three 

 inches in diameter, yellow, shining in the sun ; capsule eight 

 and sometimes ten or eleven celled. It is called Hottentots' 

 Figs, being eaten by the Hottentots, and also by the Dutch 

 inhabitants of the Cape ; of which it is a native. 



49. Mesembryanthemum Bicolorum; Two-coloured Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves awl-shaped, even, dotted, distinct; stem 

 frulescent ; corollas two-coloured. Shrubby, two feet high. 

 Native of the Cape. See the fifth species. 



50. Mesembryanthemum Aureum; Golden Fig Marigold. 

 Leaves cylindric, three-sided, dotted, distinct; pistils black 

 purple. Shrubby, scarcely capable of supporting itself up- 

 right when tall. Native of the Cape, See the fifth species. 



51. Mesembryanthemum Serratum ; Serrate-leaved Fig 

 Marigold. Leaves awl-shaped, three-sided, dotted, indis- 

 tinct, serrate backwards at the angle of the keel. This is an 

 elegant species, three quarters of a yard in height, with woody 

 stems not so thick as the little finger, and not much branched, 

 procumbent, covered with an ash-coloured bark ; flowers on 

 the upper branches, solitary, terminating, large, of an elegant 

 yellow colour. They open several times from eight in the 

 morning to three or four in the afternoon, if the sun shines, 

 and have a. little smell. Dillenius received it from Holland, 

 and gives a caution constantly to raise young plants, because 

 the old ones are very apt to perish : and it is probably for 

 want of attending to this caution, that this species can hardly 



