M E S E M B R Y 
42. Mefembryanthemum brevifolium, or (hort-leaved 
fig-marigold : leaves cylindric, very blunt, papulofe, 
fpreading; branches diffufed. This is a (lender branched 
•vvoody (hrub, two feet high or more. Branches divaricat¬ 
ing, cylindric ; when young, greenifti and covered with 
cryltaliine papulae ; when old, linooth, wiry, and (lender, 
covered with a brownilh bark. Leaves in old plants very 
(hort and numerous, diftinft; whilft young, (lightly in¬ 
curved ; when old, fpreading and pointing four ways ; in 
all dates, (Inning with very minute papulae. Flowers fo- 
litary, bright reddifh purple, refembling thofe of the pre¬ 
ceding, terminating the little fliort lateral branches, and 
opening in the forenoon. Filaments very numerous, pur- 
f ile, fpreading, and of different lengths ; anthene and poi- 
en butf-coloured ; (Lyles large, fulphur-coloured. 
This fnecies puts on very different appearances, accord¬ 
ing to its age and the treatment it receives. In the full 
ground, under a Couth wall, in a poor foil, the leaves will 
be above an inch in length, and nearly femicylindric ; and 
the young (hoots will be covered with pilelcent papulae, 
pointing downwards, and appearing in a microfcope like 
minute hooks of glafs err ice : whereas the leaves in the 
ftove, when not luxuriant, are feldom a quartet of an inch 
in length, and the papulae are not pilefeent. Native of 
the Cape, where it was found by Maffon. It (lowers in 
July and Auguft. 
43. Mefembryanthemum loreum, or leathery-ftalked 
fig-marigold : leaves femicylindric, recurved, heaped, 
gibbous, at the inner bafe, and connate ; (tern pendulous. 
The texture and form of the leaves is almoft the fame as 
in M. corniculatum, and they come out in bundles at 
intervals in the lame manner ; they are not however fo 
bluntly triquetrous, and they are rounder, fmoother, 
more (requent, longer and more (lender, tougher and 
more pliant. It had not produced flowers in the Eltharn 
garden, although it had been cultivated there many years 
before 1732. They come out from the lower axils of the 
leaves on the branches, on (hort peduncles ; the corolla 
is purple, the ftamens whitifli. 
44. Mefembryanthemum filamentofum, or thready 
fig-marigold: leaves equilaterally triangular, acute, 
fomewhat dotted and connate ; angles rugged ; branches 
hexangular. This is a plant trailing on the ground, 
diftufe, and extending from half a yard to a yard in 
length; the lower part afli-coloured and round, the 
upper purple, (lightly compreffed, and having, as it were, 
two angles, whence the leaves fpring. Leaves an inch 
and a half long, appearing dotted when.held up to the 
light: the younger and middle leaves are ftckled inwardly, 
the outer and older ones outwardly. Flowers termina.t- - 
ing the fmaller branches, folitary, notfinall, purple, pretty 
but not fliowy, on peduncles two inches long, with a pair 
of leaves on each fide. 
45. Mefembryanthemum acinaciforme,. or cimeter- 
leaved fig-marigold: leaves cimetec-ihaped, undotted, 
connate, rugged at the angle of the keel; petals lanceo¬ 
late. Branches three quarters of a yard or a yard in 
length; at firft afeending, but afterwards, incapable of 
lupporting themfelves in an ereft polture, they become 
defiexed or incumbent. Leaves (liaped fomewhat like a 
Libre.or -rimeter, (lightly bent in, the inner-part next the 
branch flat or flightiy hollowed in the middle, the outer 
compreffed and produced into a (harp back ; they are glau¬ 
cous-green, except , at the end, where they are uiually 
purple, finooth but not (liming, and not porous. Flowers 
large, three inches-in diameter, handfome, of a very vivid 
fhining purple colour, paler towards the middle, cora- 
pofed of numerous petals, almoft .equal, in three or four 
rows ; antherse oblong, whitifli ; ftyle multifid, dividing 
into twelve (hort, thickifh, cjrrhofe,.greenifti parts. This, 
fpecies very feldom produces flowers; it flowered how¬ 
ever in the Eltham garden in the year 1732, at the end of 
April. It had been cultivated earlier, namely in 1714, 
by the duftiefs of Beaufort 3 but whether it. flowered in.. 
A N T FI E M U M. 17;T 
the garden at Badminton we are not told. According 
to the Kew Catalogue, it flowers in Augufe and Sep¬ 
tember. 
46. Mefembryanthemum forficatum, or forked fig-ma¬ 
rigold : leaves cimeter-lliaped, blunt, undotted, connate, 
thorny at the tip ; (tern ancipital. This is a decumbent, 
plant; whilft young almoft herbaceous, becoming (hrubby 
by age. Branches weak, procumbent, (hort, often pen¬ 
dulous. Flowers as large as thofe of bellidifiomm, and 
much like them, but of a fomewhat deeper ground colour, 
with a higher-coloured line of purple up the middle of 
the petals, and not fo pale on the outfides ; opening in the 
forenoon. Native of the Cape. Flowering in September 
and Oftober; but rarely producing flowers. Cultivated 
in 1758, by Mr. Miller. 
47. Mefembryanthemum fpeftabile, (howy, or great 
purple-flowered fig-marigold : leaves perfoliate, very Tong, 
glaucous, dotted, quite entire, three-fided, awl-fhaped at 
the tip ; ftem woody, afeending. This is a (hrubby plant,, 
not ereft. Branches oppofite and alternate, rather 
crowded, generally afeending* but fometimes almoft de¬ 
cumbent ; whilft young, (lout, greenifti or purplifti green 
and angular; when oid, long, brown, woody, ftrong, and 
cylindrical. Leaves of different lengths, according to 
their own ages and that of the plant, from two to five 
inches long, and not a quarter of an inch broad. Flowers 
folitary, very large, bright purple, making a fine contrail 
with the very-glaucous leaves and deep-brown branches. 
Mr. Curtis remarks., that the leaves l'ometimes throw out 
internally a tooth near their extremities; and that it has 
been introduced within thefe few years, mod probably 
from, the Cape, by Mr. Maffon. 
III. With yellow corollas. 
48. Mefembryanthemum eduie, or eatable fig-mari¬ 
gold : leaves equilaterally triangular, acute, ft rift, un¬ 
dotted, connate, fubferrate at the keel; ftem ancipital. - 
Leaves the thicknefs of a finger, ihining, long, with a car¬ 
tilaginous rugged keel; they are curved-in or tickled, 
but fo as the curvature verges to the inner fiat fide, not 
the outer acute one ; they are fometimes of a darker, 
fometimes of a paler, green, frequently purple at the end. • 
Flowers three inches in diameter, yeilow. Aiming in the 
fun. It is called Hottentot's Figs, being eaten by the 
Hottentots, and alio by Dutch inhabitants of the Cape, 
of which it is a native. It rarely produces flowers, ex¬ 
cept from old plants. They appearin July. This (pecies 
is reprefented (from Seba) on the annexed Plate, at (fo. r .. 
49. Mefembryanthemum bicolorum, or two-coloured', 
fig-marigold : leaves awl-fliaped, even, dotted, diftinft'; 
ftem frutefeent; corollas two-coloured. This grows up 
into along (lender and not-much-branched ftir.ub, from % 
foot to two feet high and more. Leaves (lender, oblong, 
bluntly three-fided, green, not glaucous, rugged to the 
fight, not the touch, with frequent green tubercles, which 
when held to the light appear whitifli and pellucid. See 
Botany Plate V. fig. 95. Flowers terminating,.middle- . 
lized,-golden within, red on the outiide. 
Mr. Haworth makes two lpecies of this, which he calls - 
bicolorum and coccineum. He remarks that the firft is at • 
once known by its yellow flowers, and.the fecond by its 
deep orange-coloured ones. When pall bloom, the un-. 
fertile brafteal leaves, invefting the peduncles of cacci- 
neumj point it out from bicolorum, which has at that 
time, confldera'ole (hoots in the axils of. its uppermoft. 
leaves. Bicolorum has alfo a paler bark, longer and more 
rugged leaves, and the (hoots are more robuft. Cocci¬ 
neum has handfome flowers, which in old plants are very 
numerous. Native of the Cape,; cultivated in 1696, in 
the royal garden at Hampton Court; flowers from May 
to September. 
50. Mefembryanthemum aureum, or golden fig-mari¬ 
gold : leaves cylindric-three-lided, dotted, diftinft ; piltils 
black-purple. Tins.is a (hrubby plant, fcarcely capable, 
of.- 
