THE FIG-MAKIGOLD FAMILY. 



S99 



Ice-plant {M. crystallinum). This is frequently seen 

 as a curious summer annual in gardens, its leaves glis- 

 tening on the hottest day as if frozen with ice. Its native 

 country is said to be Greece, but it is widely spread 

 over the coasts of the Mediterranean : it is also found in the 

 Canary Islands and Cape of Good Hope. The ashes of this 

 and two other allied species produce an alkali which is 

 used in glass-making. The Hottentots and other natives 

 of South Africa apply the leaves of Mesemhryanthemum to 

 many purposes medicinally, and also for rubbing the skin of 

 their new-born children. 



M. fragrans and M. nocturnum are exceptions to the 

 general rule, as the flowers open in the evening. The latter 

 is a yellow-flowered species, and very fragrant. 



Bitter-root [Lewisia rediviva). A remarkable plant, de- 

 viating from the character of the family. It has long fleshy 

 tap-roots, about the thickness of young radishes, producing 

 a rosette of succulent leaves, from the centre of which rises 

 a brilliant pink flower that opens only during sunshine, and, 

 with the leaves, is of short duration. It is a native of North 

 America ; in Canada it is called Bitter-root, and in Oregon 

 Spathulum. The root is white internally, almost entirely 

 composed of starch, and might with propriety be called 

 Starch-root. It is largely collected and used as food by the 

 Indians, and also by Europeans in those regions, even 

 although it has a strong bitter taste. It received the specific 

 name rediviva on account of the tenacity of life in the roots, 

 one having been known to grow and flower after being 

 two years a herbarium specimen. With the exception of a 

 single species of Mesemhryanthemum^ it is the only other re- 

 presentative of the family ia America. 



Formerly this family was termed Ficoidece, and included 

 the genera Tetragmia^ Aizoon, Sesuvium, Galenia, and 

 several other modern genera, amounting to between 60 and 

 70 species, which some botanists have considered as forming 

 a distinct family, under the name of Tetragoniacece. They 

 possess the same general habit as Mesembryacece, differing 



