M ESEM.BRYANTHEMU M. 
174 
internodes are thickened above, and narrower beneath. 
Flowers axillary on leafy peduncles, Ifnaller than thofe 
of £?. 
M. perfoliatum. Stems flender, not much bigger 
than a ftraw ; fomewhat woody, rigid, round at bottom, 
covered with a thin white cuticle. A palm or a foot from 
the bottom the ftem and branches become glaucous, and 
have herbaceous internodes, compreffed and thicker 
above, covered with a thick flefhy bark. Leaves perfo¬ 
rated, three-fided, with unequal angles, the back being 
more produced and lharp, the upper part narrower and 
flightly elevated, the lateral angles blunter than the lower; 
there are prickles at the end and on the back of the leaf: 
in young plants only one on the back, in older ones two 
or three, of a dulky purple colour. Mr. Haworth is con¬ 
vinced that this is diftindt from uncinatum; the leaves and 
branches being not only larger and almoft white, but the 
former having ulually three, fometimes four, teeth or 
fpines under their points, when full grown ; whereas the 
leaves and branches of a. are not much above half the five, 
nearly of a green colour, with never more than two teeth 
or fpines below the points. Flowers purple, of a good 
fize, but not fhowy, opening in a morning, but in hot 
l'eafons only. Native of the Cape; flowers from June to 
Auguft. 
32. Mefembryantliemum fpinofum, or thorny fig-mari¬ 
gold : leaves from round, three-fided, dotted, dift'lndt; 
thorns branched. An upright thorny flirub, from two 
to three feet high, much branched. Flowers fmall, pale 
violet purple, on flender leaflefs green peduncles. Native 
of the Cape. Cultivated in 1714 by the duchefs of Beau¬ 
fort ; the long winter of 1729 deftroyed it in the Eltham 
garden. It flowers late, at the end of Auguft: and in Sep¬ 
tember ; or, according to the Kew Catalogue, from June 
to Auguft. 
33. Mefembryanthemum tuberofum, or tuberous-root¬ 
ed fig-marigold : leaves awl-fliaped, papulofe, diftindl, pa¬ 
tulous at the tip ; root headed. This forms a low much- 
branched fpreading flirub; and, when old, has a very 
large tuberous root, fometimes as big as a man’s head, 
partly protruded above the furface. Stem woody, very 
thick at bottom, covered with a bay-coloured bark. 
Leaves lhort, bluntly triquetrous, with the back convex, 
the inner or upper furface fomewhat fwelling, fubglau- 
cous, with filver dots, fo fmall as not to be vifible except 
when the fun fliines. Flowers at the ends of the branches, 
on flender cinereous orreddilh peduncles ; they are fmall, 
of a pale red or vinous colour ; open about noon. Na¬ 
tive of the Cape; flowers from June to September. In 
old plants the extreme branches fometimes become 
thorny; thele thorns are the peduncles of the preceding 
year. Thorns alfo come out from the forkings of the 
branches, fometimes inftead of flowers. 
34. Mefembryanthemum tenuifolium, or flender-leaved 
fig-marigold : leaves fubfiliform, fmooth, diftindt, longer 
than the internode ; Items procumbent. Stems woody, 
procumbent, flender, round, with a yellowilh bark. 
Leaves on the inner furface flat, on the outer convex, 
bright green inclining to grey ; from their flendernefs often 
hanging down, appearing dotted when held up to the 
light. Flowers at the ends of the branches, folitary, on 
long flender peduncles ; they are large, elpecially on 
young plants, pale fcarlet, Aiming and appearing 'pow¬ 
dered with gold dull in full funfliine; abundant, and 
opening leveral days fucceflively about noon, efpecially 
in June. Native of the Cape ; cultivated in the botanic 
garden at Chelfea in 1700. It flowers from June to Sep¬ 
tember. 
35. Mefembryanthemumftipulaceum.oruprightftirubby. 
fig-marigold: leaves fubtriquetrous, comprelled, curved 
inwards, dotted, diftincl, heaped, margined at the bale. 
Upright, woody, firm, growing to a larger fize than moft. 
ot'tlie fpecies. Flowers terminating in a fort of corymb ; 
large, ftiowy, purple. Native of the Cape ; cultivated in 
the Eltham garden in 1723. 
36. Mefembryanthemum Iteve, or upright white-wood¬ 
ed fig-marigold : leaves cyiindric, blunt, embracing, even; 
calyxes five-cleft 5 fegments oblong, blunt. Native of 
the Cape, where it was found by Malfon. It flowers from 
July to September. 
37. Mefembryanthemum deflexum, orbending fig-ma¬ 
rigold ; leaves three-fided, acute, glaucous; dots obfolete, 
fomewhat rugged ; inte'rior calycine, fegments membra¬ 
naceous. This is a fmall, very-low, fpreading or trailing, 
flirub. Flowers from July to Odtober. Native of the 
Cape, where it was found by Maflon. 
38. Mefembryanthemum auftrale, or New Zealand fig- 
marigold : leaves fubtriquetrous, fmall-dotted, connate, 
bluntilh ; ftem round, creeping; peduncles bluntly an- 
cipital, folitary. Native of New Zealand, where it was 
found by fir Jofeph Banks. It flowers in July and Auguft. 
39. Mefembryanthemum crafiifolium, or thick-leaved 
fig-marigold : leaves femicylindric, undotted, connate, 
three-fided at top. Stems a palm or long fpan in length, 
creeping; when young, herbaceous and loft, three-fided;. 
green, ftill not woody, but foft, tough and fungofe, co¬ 
vered with a cinereous bark. Flowers on fhort peduncles, 
fometimes naked, but more frequently with a pair of leaves 
on them ; they are folitary, fmall, violet-purple ; but this 
plant creeps fo much that it feldom flowers, and when it 
does the flowers do not continue long. Mr. Haworth re¬ 
marks, that this is a handl'ome plant, thickly furnifhed 
with leaves ; and that the branches, which fometimes 
hang full a yard from the pot, are naturally proftrate and 
reptant, angular and flender. Native of the Cape. Cul¬ 
tivated in 1727, by Richard Bradley, the flrft profefior of 
botany at Cambridge. 
40. Mefembryanthemum falcatuin, or fickle-leaved fig- 
marigold : leaves fomewhat fabre-fhaped, curved inwards, 
dotted, diftindt; branches round. This is a very low, 
bufhy, divaricating, almoft-decumbent fhrub, rarely more 
than fix or eight inches high. Leaves very minute and 
much crowded, glaucous, having fmooth pellucid dots,. 
attenuated at the bafe, very gibbous on the keel, ftiarplv 
incurved or falcate, near a quarter of an.inch long, and 
ending in an acute white juft-perceptible briftly point,, 
in the diredtion of the leaves. Flowers purple, large, fo¬ 
litary, opening in the morning. Filaments numerous, 
flender, pale purple, converging ; ftyles yellowifh-green,. 
awl-fhaped, long. The leaves fometimes are fo much in¬ 
curved as to form half a circle, and they are remarkably 
fmall. Dillenius compares this with the next fpecies, and 
remarks that it is much fmaller in all its parts, with fhort 
woody ftems, which produce many fhort bending branches, , 
much interwoven in old plants. Leaves very lhort, nar¬ 
row, fmooth, glaucous with a purple tip, appearing dotted 
when held up to the light; in young plants they are. 
longer, and not fo much crowded. It flowers abundant¬ 
ly during great part of the fummer; and the fame flowers 
open feveral times : they are fmaller than thofe of the. 
next fpecies, of a deeper purple colour, and fmell like 
bruifed peach-kernels. Capfule much fmaller, brown, 
purple. Native of the Cape ; cultivated in 1727,33 ap¬ 
pears from Bradley. 
41. Mefembryanthemum glomeratum, or cluftered fig- 
marigold : leaves roundifh, compreffed, dotted, diftindt; 
ftem panicled, many-flowered. This is’ a fmall, very bulhy,. 
rather glaucous, fhrub, from fix inches to a foot or more 
in height. Branches almoft upright, round whilft young, 
flig'htly angular when old, covered with a brown bark, 
for the molt part oppofite and crowded. Leaves alfo op- 
polite and crowded, rather glaucous, having, pellucid 
fpots, ulually diftindt, but fometimes confluent; they are 
fubtrigonous with blunt angles, awl-lhaped, fometimes 
almoft fabre-lhaped, from three quarters of an inch to an 
inch and a half in length. Flowers very numerous, red- 
dilh purple, like thefe of M. deltoides, but more hand- 
fome, expanding in the fore-part of the day in fuch pro- 
fufion as often to cover the furface of the plant. Native 
of the Cape, It flowers from June to Auguft. 
2 
4.2. Me- 
