78 
NOVITATES AFRICANAE 
tuberculo intervalvulari sat magno, pallido, seminibus parieti exteriore 
dispositis, subobovatis levibus. 
Cape Province: South-Western Region; Riversdale Div., Klein Karroo, 
fl. Oct.-Nov., Dr John Muir, 3957. 
A distinct species which I have been unable to place satisfactorily in 
any of the 41 genera given by Mr Brown in “The Gardeners’ Chronicle” 
(Nov. 1925). Pending, therefore, the creation of a new genus, or the 
widening of the limits of one of the existing genera, to hold it, I have 
included it in Mesembrianthemum, in the wider sense. 
Described from living specimens which flowered in Dr Muir’s garden, 
Riversdale, during October and November, 1926. Dr Muir, at my request, 
has kindly sent the following details: “I have two little shrubs of it 
3 inches high, the upper surface of the plants having superficies of 
5 ins. x 3 ins. and 6 ins. x 4 ins., respectively. They form little green dense 
patches. Flowers pure white, up to l^ins. in diameter, stamens yellow. 
The little stems are \ in. thick at ground level, ascending at the base, 
richly branched, the terminal branchlets upright. There is a faint pleasant 
odour, but not hyacinth-like as in M. odoratum, L. Bolus, and M. nocti- 
jiorum, L., which are distinctly reminiscent of monocotyledonous plants.” 
Mesembrianthemum attonsum, L. Bolus (§ Barbata). Erectum, 10 — 15 cm. 
altum, ramis patentibus, basi ad 3 mm. diam., ramulis adscendentibus 
pubescentibus, pilis patentibus minutis, cum aetate glabris, 1 — 2 mm. 
diam., internodiis saepius 0-7—1 cm. longis; folia demum patentia, basi 
distincta vel fere distincta, subtus rotundata, supra leviter convexa, 
marginibus obscuris, apicem versus parum angustata, attonsa vel 1 — 3 
setis erectis perbrevibus instructa, papillata, papillis orbicularibus vel 
subovatis, in setam erectam terminantibus, juniora supra plana, carinis 
marginibusque evidentioribus, setis papillorum apicalium in penicillum 
minutum aggregatis, basi ciliata, 1 — 1-3 cm. longa, 3 — 4 mm. lata dia- 
metroque; flores solitarii, meridie expansi, 1-6 — 2 cm. diam., pedunculis 
3 — 9 mm. longis; receptaculum hemisphaericum, minute papillato- 
setosum, apice 4 — 5 mm. diam. ; sepala 5, inter se valde inaequilonga, 
0-3 — 1 cm. longa, acuta vel subacuta; petala 3-seriata nivea, interiora 
linearia, 0-5 mm. lata, exteriora lineari-spathulata, saepius obtusa, ad 
1 cm. longa, rarius ad 2 mm. lata; stamina subconico-collecta, apice ad 
2 mm. diam., staminodiis petalisque intimis circumdata, filamentis albis, 
interioribus barbatis, 2 — 4 mm. longis, antheris pallidis, polline luteo ; 
glandulae 5 semilunatae crenulatae; ovarium supra medio elevatum, sat 
profunde 5-lobum, stigmatibus 5 subulatis setaceo-apiculatis luteo- 
viridibus, 2-5 mm. longis; capsula 4 mm. diam., aqua expansa 7 mm. 
diam., valvis 5 utrinque, intra marginem, alatis, alis erectis rotundatis, 
sat magnis, carinis contiguis, loculi alis angustissimis, inter se distantibus, 
