Some New South African Succulents. 
405 
same nature as in C. namaquensis, Schonland et Baker. Leaves about 
12 mm. long, 15 mm. broad, and 3 to 5 mm. thick, quite obtuse or with a 
faintly indicated apex. The erect stout and very short hairs are so closely 
set that they give the leaf a whitish or grey appearance. Peduncle 2 to 3 
inches high, branching above, with 3 to many glomerules. Flowers 3 to 
4 mm. in length ; petals white with a green or reddish midrib below 
and a pointed apex, bearing a minute red gland at the back. (Fig. 7.) 
Collected near Anenous, in Little Namaqualand, by Mr. Garwood 
Alston, and flowering in my garden at Capetown in April. 
Marloth, No. 4679. Also received by Mr. N. S. Pillans from other 
parts of Little Namaqualand. 
AIZOACE^. 
Mesembrianthemum opticum, n. spec. (Sect. Si:)li(Eroidea.) 
Planta acaulis, ramosa, pulvinum depressum formans. Corpuscula 
truncata, glauca, non-punctata sunt, sed facies terminahs margine 
fauceque albido-marginata est. Ovarium inclusum, compressum ; calyx 
exsertus, sepalis 5, ovalibus, fuscis, hyalino-marginatis. Petala numerosa, 
roseo-alba, linearia, libera, sepalis duplo longiora. Styli 5, filiformes. 
Capsula tubiniformis, stipitata, corpuscula baud superans. 
Diam. of the cushion-shaped plant 2 to 4 cm., number of corpuscula 
4 to 15, each corpusculum 15 mm. long, with a diam. of 10 to 12 mm. at 
the upper face. Length of sepals 4 mm., of the petals 6 to 8 mm. 
The two leaves which form the corpusculum are not joined near 
the upper end ; they are glaucous-green below, but whitish on the 
terminal, almost fiat face, the latter being surrounded by a whitish- 
brown margin and the whole body encased in a wrinkled, whitish-brown 
sheath, which is mostly split at one side leaving the truncate end of 
the leaves quite free. 
The flowers open only in bright sunlight, the petals are pure white 
or tinged with pink ; the small ovary and its very succulent stalk are 
compressed and almost 2-edged ; the styles greenish, the filaments white, 
the anthers yellow. (Fig. 5.) 
Growing in sand-covered fissures of gneiss-rocks near Prince of Wales 
Bay, in Great Namaqualand, flowering April, 1909. Altitude 50 m. 
Marloth, 4675. 
This is one of the few plants which possess leaves with an apical 
window, through which the light enters, illuminating the green tissue 
from within. The plants are almost buried in the sand, the apex only 
