Plate 54. 



MESEMBBYANTHEMUM aloides. 



Bechuanaland. 



Ficoideae. Tribe Mesembryanthemeae. 

 Mesembryanthemum, Linn.; Benth. et HooJc.f. vol. i. p. 853. 



Mesembryanthemum aloides, Haw. Suppl. p. 88 ; Fl. Cap. vol. ii. p. 396. 



This extremely rare plant, which was first found by 

 Burchell at Metlowing and at Jabirn Fontein, near Takun 

 in Bechuanaland, in 1812, was recently rediscovered by Dr. 

 I. B. Pole Evans near Postmas Berg, and has been estab- 

 lished in the garden of the Division of Botany, Pretoria. In 

 the Journal of the Linnean Society (vol. xlv. p. 123) for 1920, 

 Mr. N. E. Brown gives a fuller description of the species 

 based mainly on a coloured drawing of the plant made by 

 Burchell, who states that the roots are " eaten by natives as a 

 substitute for better food." 



The specimen from which the present plate was prepared 

 flowered at Pretoria in August, and has enabled us to draw up 

 a more complete description. 



Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium. 



Desceiption : — A stemless plant. Root thick and woody. 

 Leaves tufted, 8-12 in a cluster, forming a rosette about 9 cm. 

 in diameter, 3-55 cm. long, 1—1*7 cm. broad in the widest 

 part, lanceolate-spathulate viewed from above, acuminate, 

 obtuse, mucronate at the apex and shaped like the bow of a 

 boat, slightly narrowed at the base and sheathing, flat above, 

 keeled beneath, dotted with white spots on both surfaces. 

 Flowers lemon-yellow, sessile between the leaves. Calyx-tube 

 2*2 cm. long, widening from a cylindrical base to 1/2 cm. in 

 diameter above, sparsely pustulate above ; lobes of two 

 different lengths, pustulate ; the longer 1*7 cm. long, ovate, 

 acuminate ; the shorter 9 mm. long with membranous margins. 

 Corolla 2-5 cm. in diameter when expanded ; petals up to 

 1 cm. long, 1 mm. broad, linear, obtuse. Filaments about 



