M E S 



M E S 



its growth it is very liable to he taken for the 

 twentv-seveiith sort, and that it frequently emits 

 roots from the joints of the stems, and thereby 

 becomes creeping. It is a native of the Cape, 

 flowering from .hme to September. 



The twenty-third species is an upright plant, 

 woodv, lirm, growing to a larger size than most 

 of the species : the flowering-stem is rigid and 

 somevi'hat gray : the branches axillary, <)p|iosite, 

 from erect spreading, crossing each other in 

 pairs, and beset thickly with young leaves on 

 their lirst outset, whitish or glaucous, but final- 

 ly brownish, gradually shorter upwards, form- 

 ing a beautiful pyramidal glaucous plant, well 

 covered with fine leaves ; these when full 

 crown are from t*vo to three inches long, 

 slightly curved upwards or falcate, very glau- 

 cous, crossing each other in pairs ; very much 

 compressed at the sides, having pellucid dots 

 scattered over them, flatlish above and mucro- 

 nate : the flowers terminating in a sort of 

 corymb, large, showy, purple. It is a native 

 of the Cape. 



The twenty-fourth has the stems a palm or 

 long span m length, creeping, when young 

 herbaceous and soft, three-sided, green, fre- 

 quently purple next the sun ; when old, more 

 round, still not woody but soft, tough, and 

 fungous, covered with a cinereous bark : the 

 leaves are usually in the same plane, or not de- 

 cussated, divaricating, or not approximating like 

 inany of the other species, thick, succulent, 

 bluntly three-sided, smooth and somewhat 

 shining, green : the flowers on short peduncles, 

 sometimes naked, but more frequently with a 

 pair of leaves on them ; solitary, small, violet 

 purple : the petals not very numerous : the 

 stamens many, short, not very much scattered, 

 but not collected into a head or upright. It 

 creeps so much that it seldom flowers, and 

 when it does the flowers do not continue long. 

 It is a native of the Cape. 



The twenty-fifth species is a very low, bushy, 

 divaricating almost decumbent shrub, rarely 

 more than six or eight inches high : the branches 

 are opposite, slightly angular, axillary, divari- 

 cating, and densely crowded : the leaves very 

 minute and much crowded, glaucous, having 

 smooth pellucid dots, attenuated at the base, 

 very gibbous on the keel, sharply incurved or fal- 

 cate, near a quarter of an inch long, and ending 

 in an acute, white, just perceptible, bristly point 

 in the direction of the leaves : the flowers arc 

 purple, large, solitary, opening in the morning, 

 on short terminating peduncles : the leaves are 

 sometimes so much incurved as to form half 

 a circle, and are remarkably small. It is a na- 

 tive of the Cape. 



The twenty-sixth is a small, very bushy, 

 rather glaucous shrub, from six inches to a foot 

 or more in height; the branches almost upright, 

 or often diBuse and panicled, round whilst 

 young, slightly angular when old, covered with 

 a brown bark, for the most patt opposite and 

 crowded : the leaves are also opposite and 

 crowded, rather glaucous, having pellucid spots, 

 usually distinct, but sometimes confluent ; they 

 are subtriTOnous with blunt angles, awl-shaped, 

 attenuated at the base, slightly incurvetl, some- 

 times almost sabre- shaped, from three quarters 

 of an inch to art inch and half in length: the flow- 

 ers are very numerous, reddish purple, like those 

 of the thirteenth sort but more handsome, expand- 

 ing in the fore part of the day in such profusion 

 as often to cover the surface of the plant: petals 

 linear, numerous. It is a native of the Cape, 

 and flowers from June to August. 



It is very variable, assuming different appear- 

 ances, according to its treatment, and the dif- 

 ferent stages of its growth : its very numerous 

 beautiful purple flowers, covering the whole 

 plant, and produced every season, make it a 

 valuable species. 



The twenty-seventh species grows up into a 

 long, slender, and not much Branched shrub, 

 from a foot to two feet high and more ; the 

 leaves are slender, oblong, bluntly three-sided, 

 green, not glaucous, rugged to the sight, not the 

 touch, with frequent green tubercles, which 

 when held to the light appear whitish and pel- 

 lucid: similar tubercles are observed in the 

 lower part of the fruit: the flowers terminating, 

 middle-sized, golden within, red on the outside 

 It is a native of the Cape, flowering froni May 

 to September. 



The twenty-eighth is an elegant species, three 

 quarters of a yard in heightj with woody stems, 

 not so thick as the little finger, and not much 

 branched, procumbent, covered with an ash- 

 coloured bark : the flowers are on the upper 

 branches, solitary, terminating, large, of an 

 elegant yellow colour, composed of two or 

 three rows of petals, which are blunt, entire, and 

 sometimes jagged, the outer longer and flat, the 

 inner suddenly shorter, more erect, concave, 

 and at their base a circle of saftVon-coloured 

 anthers on very short filaments ; the bottom of 

 the flower being void, smooth, and even, hol- 

 lowed out like a dish : 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. It is a native of the Cape, flower- 

 ing in June. 



The twenty-ninth species has stems from a 

 foot to two feet in height, procumbent, woodv, 

 and much branched : the branches are rounds 



