706 
LlX. ficoide^:. 
[Mesembnja ntlieni unt . 
2. m. australe (Australian), Boland. in Ait. Hurt. Ken, ed. 1, ii. 187 ; 
lir nth. FI. Austr. iii. 821. Perennial, with prostrate stems rooting at the nodes, 
the flowering branches very short, or reduced to clusters of leaves surrounding 
the peduncle. Leaves opposite, triquetrous or somewhat flattened and oblong, 
obtuse or rarely almost acute, 4 to fin. long. Flowers reddish, solitary in the 
axillary clusters of leaves, or terminating very short leafy branches, the pedicels 
from rather shorter than the leaves to twice their length. Calyx-tube turbinate, 
2 to 8 lines long ; lobes unequal, the two larger ones as long as or rarely longer 
than the tube, and rarely forming slightly prominent lines decurrent on it. 
Petals spreading to about lin. diameter. Styles and ovary-cells usually 5. — DC. 
Prod. iii. 428 ; Salm-Dyck, Monogr. § 18, f. 2 ; Hook. f. FI. Tasm. i. 147 ; 
M. clavellatuin, Haw.; DC. Prod. iii. 428 ; Salm-Dyck, Monogr. § 18, f. 1 ; 
M. danimm, Willd. Enum. Suppl. 86 (name only, referred to M. australe in 
Link, Enum. Hort. Berol. ii. 51). 
Hab.: Queensland (without locality), I 1 ’, v. Mueller. 
The species is found also on the seacoasts of New Zealand and the islands of the South 
Pacific, and is probably not really distinct from the S. African If. crassi/olium, Linn. 
2. TETRAGONIA, Linn. 
(Calyx angled.) 
(Tetragonella, Miq.) 
Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary at the base and usually produced above it ; 
lobes 4 or 5, or rarely 8. Petals none. Stamens indefinite, few or many, 
inserted at the top of the calyx-tube, free but usually in clusters alternating with 
the lobes. Ovary inferior, 2 to 8-celled, with 1 pendulous ovule in each cell, the 
summit convex or conical, and rarely containing a second erect ovule. Styles as 
many as cells, linear, stigmatic along the inner side. Fruit indehiscent with a 
hard almost bony endocarp, the herbaceous or almost fleshy epicarp (or persistent 
calyx) often variously horned or tubercular. — -Herbs or undershrubs. Leaves 
alternate, flat but rather thick, without stipules. Flowers solitary or few together 
in the axils, sessile or pedicellate, usually of a yellowish or reddish -green. 
The "enus comprises several 8. African species, besides a few dispersed over the seacoasts of 
New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and some parts of Asia and America. 
1. T. expansa (a spreading plant), Murr.: DC. Prod. iii. 452 ; Benth. FI. 
Austr. iii. 825. Decumbent or prostrate, often extending to several feet. Leaves 
petiolate, the larger ones ovate, triangular or broadly hastate, 2 to 4in. long, 
entire, obtuse or acute, the smaller ones narrower. Flowers small, yellow, on 
very short pedicels or almost sessile in the axils, solitary or 2 together. Calyx- 
tube broadly turbinate, a little above 1 line diameter ; lobes broad and obtuse, 
about as long as the tube. Stamens in clusters of 8 or 4 opposite each sinus of 
the calyx. Ovary half-inferior, the free portion depressed-hemispherical, with 3 
to 8 external furrows and as many cells. Fruit hard, J to 4in. diameter, from 
nearly globular and almost without protuberances to turbinate, angular, with 2, 
3 or more hard prominent horns, the endocarp woody. — Hook. f. FI. Tasm. i. 
147 ; Bot. Mag. t. 2362 ; Payer in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3, xviii. t. 13; T. inermis, 
F. v. M. in Linmea, xxv. 384. 
Hab.: Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, C. Stuart. A very common coast plant. 
The species is also on the coasts of New Zealand, extratropical 8. America, and Japan, and 
has been cultivated in Europe as “ New Zealand 8pinach.” 
3. AIZOON, Linn. 
(From the Greek, meaning always alive.) 
Calyx free, deeply 4 or 5-lobed. Petals none. Stamens indefinite, usually 
about 20, inserted at the top of the calyx-tube, free, but more or less in clusters 
alternating with the lobes. Ovary superior, enclosed in the calyx-tube, 5-celled 
