Plate 73. 



MESEMBEYANTHEMUM ckassipes. 



Cape Province. 



Ficoidbae. Tribe Mesembeyeae. 

 Mesembbyanthemum, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 853. 



Mesembryanthemum crassipes, Marloth, sp. nov. habitu 31. rosutyti (Kensit 

 in Trans. Eoy. Soc. S. Afr. i. p. 155, pi. xxib) et 31. calcarei, Marl. (Flora 

 of S. A. vol. i. pi. 52) sed foliis cuneatis aspero-marginatis et floribus 

 roseis 5-meris distincta. 



PJanta subacaulis, ramis paucis brevissimis e radiee crasso carnoso ramoso. 

 Folia in rosulam aggregata, plana, cuneata, crassa, suberecta, apice retusa 

 vel rotundata, apicem versus margineque fcuberculis minutis griseis 

 numerosis munita. Flores apice ramulorum solitarii. Calyx 5-fidus, 

 lobis subaequalibus triangularibus, colore griseo foliorum. Petala lanceo- 

 lata, uniseriata, saturate rosea. Stamina incarnata basin versus barbata. 

 Stigmata 8-10, filiformia, staminibus aequilonga. 



This is a beautiful plant when in flower, owing to the 

 contrast between the deep pink petals and the rugose grey- 

 leaves. It was collected on a stony plain of grey shale near 

 Sutherland, at an altitude of 4600 feet, by Dr. E. Marloth, and 

 flowered in his garden at Cape Town in September, 1921. 



Description : — Root thick, fleshy, simple or branched up 

 to 30 mm. in diam. and 20 cm. long. Stem none, but one or 

 more short branches arising from the crown of the caudex. 

 Leaves crowded, 6-10 on a branch, mostly erect and exposing 

 the margin to the midday sun, cuneate, gradually narrowed 

 to the base, the apex straight or slightly rounded, occasionally 

 with a blunt mucro ; the apical portion, and especially the 

 apical margin, closely covered with fine tubercles; on the 

 wild plant the entire leaf greyish-green, the margin reddish. 

 Flowers solitary on each branch, sessile or subsessile, sup- 

 ported by 2 connate leaf-like bracts. Calyx turbiniform, 

 10-12 mm. long, the tube 11-13 mm. in diam. at the mouth; 

 sepals 5, of which 3 nearly equal, the 2 others narrower, all 

 triangular, 10 mm. long and wide, with a very narrow hyaline 

 margin and a thick umbo below the apex, finely tuberculate 



