966 ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART III. 



CHAP. LII. 



OF THE HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER 

 OR MESEMBRYA V CE^E. 



Mesenibrynnthemum L. There are a great many species and varieties of this genus described by 

 botanists, no fewer than 339 being enumerated in Don's Miller. Most of them are natives of dry 

 sandy soils at the Cape of Good Hope, and in other parts of Africa ; and many sorts will live through 

 the winter on rockwork, in the neighbourhood of London, if protected with dry litter. "When they 

 can be preserved through the winter, they make a splendid appearance in the summer, with their 

 brilliant flowers of scarlet, yellow, purple, or white. Several species have stood through the winter, 

 without any protection, on the rockwork in the Chelsea Botanic Garden ; and a number of sorts 

 were, till lately, preserved in a cold-pit in the garden of the London Horticultural Society. 



CHAP. LIII. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER NITRARIA^CE^E. 



THIS order includes only one genus, so that the following generic charac- 

 ters will portray the chief of the characteristics of the order : 

 NITRA^RIA L. Calyx inferior, in 5 deep divisions. Petals 5, arising from the 

 calyx, their aestivation inflexed and valvular. Stamens 15, perigynous. 

 Ovary with 3 or more cells, with a continuous fleshy style, at whose tip 

 are as many stigmatic lines as there are cells. Fruit drupaceous, opening 

 by 3 or 6 valves. Seeds solitary, pendulous by a long funiculus. Embryo 

 straight, dicotyledonous. - Shrubs, with deciduous, succulent, alternate 

 leaves, which, in some instances, are in fascicles; and with flowers in cymes, 

 or solitary. Properties, slightly saline. (LindL IntroiL to N. S.) 



GENUS I. 



NITRA'RIA L. THE NITRARIA. Lin. Syst. Dodecandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 602. ; Lam. 111., t. 40a ; Gaertn. Fruct., 1. t. 58. ; Dec. Prod., 3. p. 456.; 



Don's Mill., 3. p. 155. 

 Derivation. So named by Schober, from one of the species being discovered in certain nitre-works 



in Siberia, along with other saline plants. 



Description, fyc. Shrubs, seldom rising more than 4 ft. in height ; and, in 

 British gardens, thriving best in a dry soil, composed partly of lime rubbish, 

 which should be, about once a year, strewed with a thin coat of salt. Propa- 

 gated by cuttings. 



1. N. SCHO'BER/ L. Schober's Nitraria. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 638. ; Dec. 

 Prod., 3. p. 456. ; Don's Mill., 3. 

 p. 155. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves 

 oblong, perfectly entire. 

 Drupes ovate. It varies, 

 with branches spiny, and 

 not so. A native of the 

 neighbourhood of salt 

 lakes in Russia. (Dec. 

 Prod., iii. p. 456.) Intro- 

 duced in 1788. 



Varieties. 



^ N. S.I sibirica ; N. 



sibfrica ' Pall. FL Ross., t. 50. f. A., Gmel. Sib. y 

 2. t. 98., Lam. III., t. 403. f. 1.; and our fig. 

 713. Fruit of a blackish blue colour. A native of Siberia. 



