MESEMBRYAN'THEMUM INCLAU'DENS. 
NEVER-CLOSING FIG MARIGOLD. 
Class. 
ICOSANDRIA. 
Order. 
PENTAGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
MESEMBRYACEjE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
C.O.Hope. 
9 inches. 
June, July. 
Perennial. 
in 1802 
No. 981 . 
In a former notice of the word Mesembiyanthe- 
mum, we mentioned its derivation as being from 
the Greek mesembria, anthemon, signifjdng mid- 
day sun. This, to a ceidain degree, is true, but 
we owe to the pen of the late Sir J. E. Smith a 
further explanation, which we will give in his own 
words. ‘ Rreynius first named it Mesemhrianthe- 
mum, meaning to express its flowers exjianding at 
midday, which is tnie of many of the species, but 
not of all, Dillenius, therefore, by altering one 
letter in the orthography, had recourse to another 
etymology, from mesos, the middle ; embryon, an 
embri'o; and anthos, a flower; because the embryo 
( meaning the germen ) is in the middle of the 
flower ; which indeed, as that author most truly 
remarks, is the case with innumerable plants be- 
sides, but not exactly as in the present genus. He 
obseiwes that the flower does not altogether stand 
on the top of the fmit, but is perforated as it were, 
by the latter, whilst it so closely adheres to the 
middle as not to be separable from it without 
laceration. We confess our predilection for the 
original idea of Brejuiius, which if not strictly 
