Mesembryanthemum. ] AIZOACEAE. 415 
inferior, 2-5-celled ; styles as many as the cells, free or united at the base ; 
ovules either solitary in the cells and basal, or numerous and axile. 
Fruit generally a capsule with loculicidal or transverse dehiscence, more 
rarely drupaceous or separating into 1-seeded cocci. Seeds solitary or 
many, usually compressed ; albumen scanty or copious; embryo slender, 
curved round the albumen, terete. . 
A farge family, comprising 22 genera and nearly 500 species, mostly tropical or 
subtropical, and especially plentiful in South Africa; rare or absent in cold climates, 
The properties of the family are unimportant. Many species of Mesembryanthemum 
have showy flowers, and are cultivated in gardens ; and Tetragonia is occasionally used 
as a pot herb. The remaining genera are mostly insignificant weeds. Both the New 
Zealand genera are widely distributed, although much more numerously represented 
in South Africa than elsewhere. ; 
1. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM Linn. - 
More or !ess succulent herbs or undershrubs. Leaves usually opposite, 
thick and fleshy, trigonous or terete or flat. Flowers conspicuous, 
terminating the branches or axillary. Calyx-tube adnate with the ovary ; 
lobes 5. Petals numerous, linear, in one or several rows. Stamens 
numerous, 1n many rows. Ovary inferior, with 5 or more cells, rarely 
4-celled ; styles as many as the cells, free or connate at the base, stigmatic 
on the inner side; ovules very numerous. Capsule enclosed in the 
persistent calyx, depressed at the apex and locnlicidally dehiscent, the 
valves opening in a star-like manner. Seeds numerous, minute; testa 
crustaceous. | 
An enormous South African genus, containing fully 350 species; rare elsewhere, 
although a few species are widely scattered along the shores of many parts of the world. 
Leaves less than lin. long. Flowers’3-lin. diam.; peduncles 
usually short .. - a “f wa 
Leaves more than lin. long. Flowers Idin. diam., on long 
peduncles 
1. M. australe. 
42 2. M. aequilaterale. 
DishZ ae” pectiinte ($-9F£ ) NES 
1. M. australe Sol. ex Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 523.—Stems 1-4 ft. 
long, prostrate and rooting at the nodes, woody, terete. Leaves opposite 
or in opposite fascicles, connate at the base, 4-14 in. long, linear or linear- 
oblong, triquetrous, flat above, convex and keeled beneath, acute or obtuse, 
thick and fleshy, often glaucous. Flowers #-1 in. diam., white or pink; 
peduncles usually shorter than the leaves, but sometimes nearly twice 
their length. Calyx-tube fleshy, obconic ; lobes 5, 2 of them much longer 
than the others. Petals very numerous, spreading. Styles 5-8. Capsule 
5-8-celled. — A. Cunn. Preeur. (1839) n. 522; Raoul Choix (1846) 48 ; 
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 76; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 83; Benth. FI. 
Austral. 111 (1866) 324; J. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 184: Cheesem. Man. 
N.Z. Fl. (1906) 191. 
KERMADEC TSLANDS, NorrH AND SoutH [stanps, CHaTHam IsLANDS, STEWART 
Isu.AND: Common everywhere on rocky coasts. Horokaka; New Zealand Ice-plant. 
October—March. Also abundant in Australia and Tasmania, Norfolk Island, and Lord 
Howe Island. 
79H? 
2. M. aequilaterale Haw. Misc. Nat. (1803) 77.—Stems robust, woody 
at the base, prostrate or ascending, sometimes several feet in length ; 
flowering branches short, suberect. Leaves opposite, stem-clasping, 1-3 in. 
a oY = : ee ; . is Ne 5 TCE 
(6°. Wil | ISAS). 
= és emg iL ate poetry (4G res ela WV et fv. 
ASS. CS. SGU G32) 34. 
