170 M E S 
MESCINZUN'GH, a town of Thibet : thirty miles weft 
of Tankia. 
ME'SE, a fmall ifland in the Eaftern Indian Sea. Lat. 
6.55. N. Ion. 131. 50. E. 
ME'SE, J'. An old word for the middle firing of a mu- 
fical inftrument; fpr the mafs that ufed to be celebrated at 
■weddings ; and in commerce for five hundred herrings. 
MESEE'MS, imperfonal verb ; [me and feems, or itfeems 
to me. ] I think ; it appears to me ; methinks.—To that 
general fubje£lion of the land, mefeems that the cuftom or 
tenure can be no bar nor impeachment. Spenfer. 
Alas, of ghofts I hear the ghaftly cries ; 
Yet there, mefeems, I hear her finging loud. Sidney. 
MeJ'eemed by my fide a royal maid 
Her dainty limbs full fbftly down did lay. Fairy Queen. 
MESEM'BRIA, or Messou'ri, a town of European 
Turkey, in Romania, at the mouth of a river which runs 
into the Black Sea; formerly the fee of a bifliop : lixteen 
miles eaft-north-eaft of Burgas. Lat. 42. 38.N. Ion. 27. 
47. E. 
MESEMBRYAN'THEMUM, f. [a vaft genus of fuc- 
•culent plants, formerly known by the name of Ficoides, 
from its affinity to the Indian fig, or ca6tus. Breynius 
firft named it Mejembrianthemum, meaning to exprefs its 
flowers expanding at mid-day, which is true of many of 
the fpecies, but not of all. Dillenius therefore, by al¬ 
tering one letter in the orthography, Mejembryaniliemum , 
had recourfe to another etymology, from pio-os, the mid¬ 
dle, Ep( 3 %vov, an embryo, and <zv6o;, a flower; becaufe the 
embryo (meaning the germen) is in the middle of the 
flower; which indeed, as that author molt truly remarks, 
is the cafe with innumerable plants befides, but not ex¬ 
actly as in the prefent genus. We confefs our predilec¬ 
tion for the original idea of Breynius, which, if not ftridlly 
applicable to all the fpecies, is itrikingly appofite to the 
generality, whofe refulgent and radiating petals feem to 
welcome, as well as to emulate, the noon-tide fun, fold¬ 
ing themfelves up as it withdraws. Three or four of the 
fpecies indeed keep their flowers clofed all day, and open 
in the evening; hence lome have called thefe Nyderian- 
tliemum; but, as they agree with the reft in other circum- 
ftances, particularly in the fru&ification and habit, the 
diltindlion is abfurd.] Fig-Marigold ; a genus of the 
clafs icofandria, order pentagynia, natural order of fuc- 
culentie, (ficoideas, Juff.) Generic chara&ers.—Calyx : 
perianthium one-leafed, five-cleft, fuperior, acute, fpread- 
mg, permanent. Corolla : one-petalled ; petals lanceo¬ 
late-linear; very numerous, in feveral rows, a little longer 
than the calyx, flightly united at the claws into one. 
Stamina: filaments numerous, capillary, the length of 
the calyx ; antherae incumbent. Piftillum : germen in¬ 
ferior, with five blunt angles; ftyles four to ten, com¬ 
monly five, awl-ffiaped, upright and then bent back; 
ftigmas Ample. Pericarpium: capfule fleihy, roundifh, 
the navel marked with rays, the cells correfponding with 
the ftyles in number. Seeds : very many, roundifh.— 
j Effential Char after. Calyx five-cleft; petals numerous, 
linear ; capfule fleffiy, inferior, many-feeded. 
Fifty fpecies are defined in the 14th edition of the Syft. 
Veg. Thunberg in his Prodromus has 72 ; Willdenow 
mentions 86 ; but the new edition cf the Hortus Kewenfis 
enumerates 175. The labours of Mr. Haworth, who has 
publifhed, in an oftavo volume, an ample Monograph of 
the prefent genus, and who has, for many years, invefti- 
gated and cultivated all the fpecies he could procure, has 
thrown great light upon the lubjeCl, though we are not 
able to follow him in all that he delcribes, for want of 
having feen them fo completely. They are almoft exclu- 
fively the productions of the arid fandg of the Cape of 
Good Hone; a very few only being found in New Hol¬ 
land, and New Zealand, or in the fouth of Europe. At 
the Cape they are all at home. Their peculiarly-fuccu- 
lent nature, like that of aloes, is calculated to refill the 
turning fun and long-continued drought of that climate, 
M E S 
their cuticle allowing of very flow perfpiration, though of 
ready abforption ; fo that, however exhaufted they may be, 
they revive from the flighted: fliower. This wonderful 
provifion of nature exifls only in the living plant. When 
killed by momentary immerfion in hot water, thefe fuccu- 
lent plants dry nearly as quick as any others. The hor- 
ticulturifls of Europe are bell acquainted with the nu¬ 
merous perennial fpecies of the genus before us. There 
have indeed been lome annual ones raifed here; but we 
have reafon to think there are many almoft entirely un¬ 
known. Some of thefe bear very curioufly-conftruCled 
capfules, which expand by moifture, contrary to the na¬ 
ture of capfules in general, that their feeds may be dif- 
perfed in the wet feafon, when alone they would, in fuch 
& country, have any chance of germinating. 
Linnaeus has arranged the fpecies from the colour of 
the flowers, which is obvious, and fufficiently conftant, 
with few exceptions. Mr. Haworth has changed the or¬ 
der, and arranged the perennial forts chiefly from the 
leaves, thus : 1. Suhapliylla, or almoft leaflet's. 2. Suba- 
canlia foliofa, almoft ltemlel’s and leafy. 3. Caulefcent 
with flat leaves. 4. Suffrutefcent with the leaves rounded 
underneath. 5. Suffrutefcent with three-fided leaves. 
We, of courfe, follow Linnaeus. 
I. With white corollas. 
1. Mefembryanthemum nodiflorum, or Egyptian fig- 
marigold : leaves alternate, roundifh, blunt, ciliate at the 
bale. This is a native of Egypt, where they cut up the 
plants and burn them for pot-alh ; it is efteemed the bell 
fort for making hard foap and the finer glafs. It is an an¬ 
nual plant. In the flove the ftalks grow long and flender, 
and are not productive of flowers. Raifed in a hot-bed, 
and afterwards expofed to the open air, it flowers freely. 
It all'o grows wild in Italy, about Naples, on high fea- 
banks expofed to the fpray. It was cultivated in 1748, 
by Mr. Miller; and flowers in Auguft. 
2. Mefembryanthemum ciliatum, or ciliated fig-mari¬ 
gold: leaves oppofite, connate, half-round ; ltipules mem¬ 
branaceous, reflex, jagged, ciliary. This is a charming 
little fhrub, with a perennial fibrous root, and flender but 
firm, nearly-upright, ftraight branches, which are thickly 
adorned with green, dotted, very fmall, (hort, trique¬ 
trous, leaves. Found at the Cape by Malfon. 
3. Mefembryanthemum caducum, or fmall-flowered 
fig-marigold : leaves filiform, half-round, diftinfr; teats 
ovate; lateral flowers feffile, terminating flowers fur- 
rounded by a pair of leaves. This is another fpecies 
found at the Cape by Malfon. It flowers in July and Au¬ 
guft ; and is biennial. 
4. Mefembryanthemum cryftallinum, diamond fig-mari¬ 
gold, or ice-plant: leaves alternate, ovate, papulofe; 
flowers feffile ; calyxes broad, ovate, acute, retul'e. This 
is an annual plant, diftingufhed by its leaves and ftalks 
being clofely covered with pellucid pimples full of moif¬ 
ture, which, when the fun lhines on them, reflect the 
light, and appear like fmall bubbles of ice, whence it is 
called the ice-plant; others name it the diamond-plant, or 
diamond-Jicoides. The Item has oppofite and alternate cy¬ 
lindrical branches, which, when luxuriant, trail upon the 
ground, and are from one to two feet long. The firll 
four or fix leaves are oppofite, each pair crofting the other, 
very lax and fucculent, waved, blunt, attenuated, or 
wedge-fhaped at the bale, and connate, rather keeled un¬ 
derneath, efpecially at the bafe, with a flight correfpond- 
ing channel along the centre of the upper furface, which 
is covered with lei's and duller pimples than any other 
part of the plant; the upper leaves are alternate, growing 
lefs and lels, nearly feffile, fmall. Peduncles extremely 
fliort or none, alternate, from the axils of the upper leaves. 
Segments of the calyx unequal, three of them large and 
leafy, befet with pilefeent pimples, and acutely pointed, 
the two inner much fmaller, frequently coloured with 2. 
purplifh tinge, acute at the points ; petals very narrow, 
bluih-Goloured without, wlutilh within, fometimes en- 
