CXI. MESEMBRYANTHEME^E. 



463 



Mesembryanthemum. 

 Nearly ripe fruit (mag.). 



Afesembryanthemum. 

 Ripe fruit (mag.). 



Mesembryanthemiim. 

 Kipc fruit cut vertically (mag.). 



marcescent or deliquescent, imbricate in bud. STAMENS indefinite, many-seriate ; 

 filaments subulate or setaceous, unequal, free or united at the base ; anthers 

 introrse, 2-celled, ovoid, versatile, deliiscence longitudinal. CARPELS 4-20, cohering 

 into an inferior ovary, 4-20-celled, ventral suture free, superior ; placentas linear, 

 parietal, occupying the bottom of each cell ; stigmas 4-20, cristate, crowning the 

 floral axis ; ovules numerous, several-seriate, fixed by a ventral hiluin to long funicles. 

 CAPSULE at first fleshy, then woody and dry, top truncate, opening along the stig- 

 matic crests by the centrifugal raising of the thick coriaceous epicarp as it 

 separates from the endocarp, which persists under the form of geminate chartaceous 

 triangular segments. SEEDS numerous ; testa crustaceous, soft or granular; albumen 

 farinaceous. EMBRYO peripheric, dorsal, curved or hooked, voluminous ; cotyledons 

 ovoid or oblong ; radicle cylindric. 



GENUS. 

 * Mesembryanthemum. 



Mesembryanthemece approach Cactece in the polypetalous and epigynous corolla and its aestivation, in 

 polyandry, parietal placentation and curved ovules ; they are separated by their many-celled ovary, 

 sessile stigmas, farinaceous albumen, and normal leaves. They have also some affinity with Portttlacece, 

 and especially with Tetragonia, in the more or less inferior ovary, polyandrous stamens, curved ovule, peri- 

 pheric embryo, and farinaceous albumen ; but in Portulaca the placentation is central and free, and in Tetra- 

 yonia, which has a pluricelled ovary, the ovules are inserted at the top of the central angle of the cells. 



Mesembryanthemeat inhabit South Africa. A small number of species are met with in the Mediter- 

 ranean region, America and Australia. The fruits of some {M. edule) contain sugar, and are edible. 

 The leaves of M. geniculiflomm are used as a vegetable by the people on the borders of the great 

 African desert, and the bruised seeds yield them flour. M. crystaliinum (Ice-plant), naturalized in the 

 Mediterranean region, is frequently cultivated on account of its singular appearance, its surface being 

 covered with shining vesicles containing a gummy principle insoluble in water, and resembling in the 

 sunlight a covering of hoar-frost. The inhabitants of the Canaries use the juice of many of these 

 plants as a diuretic, and burn their leaves to obtain soda. The juice of M. acinaciforme is successfully 

 employed at the Cape against dysentery. That of M. tortuosum is considered as a narcotic or sedative. 

 [The leaves of M. mistrale, called Pig's Face, are eaten pickled in Australia. The seeds of the Shama 

 are a most important article of food with the desert Arabs.] 



