LIX. FICOIDE&. 705 
Tribe II. Aizoidese. — Calyx free, but with a distinct turbinate tube, beariuq the stamens at 
or below the top. Petals none. 
Capsule opening in valves. 
Stamens indefinite 3. Aizoon. 
Stamens 4 4. Gunnia. 
Capsule circumsciss. 
Styles and ovary-cells 3 to 5 5. Sesuvium. 
Styles and ovary-cells 2 or 1 6 . Trianthema. 
Tribe III. (or Suborder). lYXolluguneae. — Calyx free , divided to the base or nearly so. 
Petals 5 or fewer or none. 
(When the calyx is divided quite to the base, the stamens, inserted as in the rest of the Order 
below the lobes, are necessarily hypogynous. In a few species the base of the calyx is slightly 
developed and then the stamens are somewhat perigynous. The group has been frequently 
referred to Caryophylleee or to Portulacea, with both of which as with Ficoidece, Phytolaccacece, 
Chenopodiaceic, A mar a n taeece, &c., it agrees in the seeds and embryo. It differs, however, both 
from Caryophylleee and Portulacece in the divided ovary as well as in habit, and although cer- 
tainly allied to those two as well as to Phytolaccacece, it appears to me to be much more 
closely connected with the tribe Aizoidece of Ficoidece through Trianthema. Like all the Ficoidecc 
it is remarkable for the general want of symmetry between the stamens and the other parts of 
the flower. — Benth.) 
Stamens 8, united in a cup at the base. Ovules 1, 2, or rarely 3 in 
each cell 7. Macarthuria. 
Stamens few or many, free or rarely slightly united when very 
numerous. Ovules many or rarely 3 or 4 in each cell 8. Mollugo. 
1. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM, Linn. 
(Name referring to the flowers opening at midday.) 
Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary ; lobes 5 or rarely more or fewer. Petals 
numerous, linear, in one or more series. Stamens numerous, in several series. 
Ovary inferior, with 5 or more, rarely 4, cells, each with numerous ovules ; styles 
as many as cells of the ovary, free or connate at the base, stigmatic along the 
inner side. Capsule surrounded by the persistent calyx, the summit flat and 
loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds minute, with a crustaceous testa. — Herbs or under- 
shrubs, more or less succulent. Leaves opposite or alternate, fleshy, entire or 
rigidly ciliate, without stipules. Flowers showy, terminal or in the forks of the 
branches, or leaf-opposed. 
The species are very numerous in S. Africa, a few spreading along the seashore to various 
parts of the world. 
Leaves opposite, triquetrous, linear or oblong. 
Leaves mostly above Lin. Flowers about l£in. diameter on rather long 
pedicels 1. M. ceqnilaterale. 
Leaves mostly under lin. Flowers not above lin. diameter, sessile or 
shortly pedicellate in tufts of leaves at the nodes 2. M. australe. 
1. 1YI. aequilaterale (leaves equal-sided), Hate.: Hook. f. FI. Tastn. i. 146; 
Benth. FI. Anstr. iii. 324. Perennial, with robust prostrate stems, extending 
sometimes to a considerable length, with short ascending flowering branches, or 
sometimes more ascending from the base. Leaves opposite, stem-clasping, 
thickly linear-triquetrous, equal-sided or laterally compressed, attaining 2 to Sin. 
Flowers rather large, red, pedicellate or nearly sessile within the last small pair 
of leaves. Calyx-tube turbinate, Jin. long or rather more ; lobes unequal, the 
two larger ones often as long as the tube, with prominent angles decurrent on the 
calyx and pedicel, or the calyx quite terete. Petals spreading to about ljin. 
diameter. Styles and ovary-cells varying from 6 to 10. Fruit about the 
size of a large gooseberry. — M. aquilaterale, M. ylducescem, M. Boss!, and 
M. niyrexccns, Haw.; DC. Prod. iii. 429; Salm-Dyek, Monogr. j 19, f. 1, 2, 3 ; 
M. pra:t-o.r, F. v. M. in Linntea, xxv. 384. 
Hab.: Plains of the Condamine, Leichhardt, as well as on the coast sand. 
The same species is also found on the coasts of Chili and California, and scarcely differs from 
the 8. African M. acinaciformte, Linn., except in the leaves not so thick and the flowers 
smaller. — Benth. 
