Ficoidece Mesembryanthemum. 2 09 



1 . M. crystalllnum. Ice Plant. This very remarkable plant 

 is a native of the South of Europe. It is a dwarf branching 

 annual with alternate or opposite oblong-undulate sessile leaves 

 which as well as the stem are covered with crystalline granules. 

 The flowers are solitary and axillary, either pink or white, with 

 a yellow centre. 



2. M. cordifolium. This is a perennial species, and better 

 known by the variegated form, which is in great request for 

 bedding in Summer. The habit is dwarf and dense, with small 

 cordate leaves and sessile purple flowers. South Africa. 



3. M. tricolor. A pretty tender annual species, growing in 

 dense tufts. Leaves long, linear, acute. Flowers pink and 

 crimson with a dark eye, solitary, on long radical peduncles 

 covered with small granular protuberances. South Africa. 



ORDEE LIY. UMBELLIFEBJE. 



Herbs or shrubs, rarely arborescent. Leaves usually much 

 divided. Flowers very small, in compound or simple umbels, 

 rarely capitate, with or without involucral bracts. Calyx 

 superior, limb obsolete or 5-toothed. Petals 5, epigynous, the 

 tips usually incurved. Stamens 5. Fruit of two indehiscent 1- 

 seeded dorsally or laterally compressed carpels with longi- 

 tudinal oil canals ; seeds albuminous. This very numerous 

 order offers little in the floral department, but a few are grown 

 for their ornamental foliage or bracts. It furnishes us with 

 many valuable esculents and aromatic spices and a few drugs, 

 such as Carrot, Parsnip, Samphire, Anise, Caraway, Cummin, 

 and Asafostida. And there are some virulently poisonous, 

 as Conlum, Cicuta^ and (Endnthe. There are 152 genera and 

 about 1,300 species, chiefly from temperate regions. 



1. BUPLBtTRUM. 



Leaves simple and entire. Flowers yellowish, in compound 

 umbels. Calyx -teeth none. Fruits laterally compressed. 

 About sixty species of this genus are known, chiefly from the 

 north temperate zone, a few reaching South Africa. The ety- 

 mology of the name is uncertain. Most of the species are 

 herbaceous or annual, but the only one that concerns us is 

 shrubby. 



1. B. fruticosum. A small branching shrub with alternate 



