CXI. MESEMBEYANTHEMEiE. 



463 



Mesemb7']/anffiemum. 

 Nearly ripe fruit (mag.)* 



Mesembryanthemum. 

 Ripe fruit (mag.). 



Meseinbryantlt^rnvm. 

 Ripe fruit cut vertically (niag^)r 



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, OToid, versatile, debiscence 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 bilum to long funicles. 

 Capsule at first fleshy, then woody and dry, top trurjpate, 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. Embrto peripheric, dorsal, curved or hooked, voluminous ; cotyledons 

 ovoid or oblong ; radicle cylindric. 



GENUS. 

 * Mesembryanthemum. 



Mesemhryanthemea 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 Pm-tulacece, 

 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 placenta,tion is central and free, and in Tetra- 

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



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

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

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

 African desert, and the bruised seeds yield them flour. M. crystallinimi (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. acinadfornxe is successfully 

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

 [The leaves of M. amtrale, 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.] 



