Sicyos.'] 
XXXI. CUCURBITACEJE. 
83 
places. Banks and Solander , etc. Kermadec group, M‘Gillivray. Also a native of Aus- 
tralia, Tasmania, and both shores of America. A. Gray (Bot. U. S. Expl. Exped. i. 648) 
keeps this distinct from S. angulatus, as S. australis , Endl., but I find no characters. 
Order XXXII. FICOIDE^]. 
The New Zealand species are succulent herbs, with opposite or alternate 
exstipulate leaves, but the habit of the Order is very various. Flowers uni- 
or bi-sexual, regular. — Calyx superior or inferior, 4- or many-cleft, persistent. 
Petals perigynous or epigynous, 4 or 5 or very numerous. Stamens 4 or 5 or 
very numerous ; filaments free; anthers oblong. Ovary inferior or superior, 
2- or more celled ; styles as many as the ovary cells ; ovules solitary or nume- 
rous in the cells. Fruit very various, capsular drupaceous or baccate. Seeds 
usually with farinaceous albumen and terete curved or annular embryo. 
A considerable Order, scattered over the temperate and tropical regions of the globe. 
Petals numerous. Capsule dehiscent at the top .... 1. Mesembryanthemum. 
Petals 0. Drupes 3-8-celled 2# Tetbagonia. 
1. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM, Linn. 
Succulent, usually creeping plants. — Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, limb 
5-parted. Petals very numerous, linear. Stamens very numerous. Ovary 
inferior, 4- or more celled ; styles free or connate ; ovules very numerous, 
attached to the bases of the cells by long funicles. Capsule bursting by valves 
at the exposed top, the rest included in the calyx-tube. Seeds numerous, 
subglobose or pyriform. 
An immense South African genus, rare elsewhere. 
1. M. australe, Soland. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 76. Stems woody, terete, creep- 
ing, 1-2 ft. long, rooting at the nodes. Leaves opposite, 1-3 in. long, fleshy, 
linear, triquetrous, acute, glaucous, punctate, variable in thickness. Pedun- 
cles axillary, solitary, very thick, shorter or longer than the leaves. Flowers 
f-1 in. diam., pink or white, unisexual. Calyx-tube fleshy, obconic, lobes 5, 
unequal, the inner smaller. Petals 50-60, linear. Capsule 5-celled, 5-valved. 
Seeds minute, with a dark-brown, smooth testa. 
Common on rocky and sandy shores throughout the islands, Banks and Solander , etc. 
Fruit full of red colouring-matter, Buchanan. Also abundant in Australia aud Tasmania, 
and is, I suspect, not very different from the Cape of Good Hope M. crassifolium, Linn. 
2. TETRAGONIA, Linn. 
Scandent or trailing (or erect), succulent herbs. Leaves alternate, petioled. 
Flowers axillary, peduncled. — Calyx-tube adnate with the ovaiy, limb 3- or 4- 
cleft. Petals 0. Stamens 1 or more, perigynous, filaments filiform. Ovary 
inferior, 3-8-celled; styles 3-8 ; ovules solitaiy. Fruit a drape or bony nut, 
globose or obconic and 4-angled with the angles produced and sometimes pro- 
liferous. Testa membranous. 
A large South African genus, containing also a few Japan, Australian, New Zealand, and 
American species. 
G 2 
