NOVITATES AFRICANAE 
85 
tata, pallidissime rosea, fere ad 4 mm. longa, ad -75 mm. lata; stamina 
erecta laxa, filamentis albis barbatis, ad 2-5 mm. longis, antheris pollineque 
albidis; discus conspicuus annularis crenulatus, 2-5 mm. diam. ; ovarium 
supra convexum, 5-lobatum, stigmatibus 5, basi anguste subulatis, 
superne tenuissime setaceis, stamina bene excedentibus, petala fere 
aequantibus, 3-5 mm. longis vel parum ultra. 
Cape Province; South-Western Region; Ladismith Div., Adam’s 
Kraal, 1400 ft. ; also Swellendam Div., Klein Karroo, Dr John Muir, 3954. 
Described from living specimens which flowered in Dr Muir’s garden, 
Riversdale, during October and November, 1926. 
This delicate little species is among the daintiest of plants. The large 
and very translucent papillae, giving a frosted appearance, allow the 
vivid green of the leaves to show through, and the pale blush-pink of the 
petals makes an exquisite harmony with the soft grey of the foliage. 
The flowers are often produced on one side of a branch only, and the 
flower-bearing branchlet reduced to a peduncle with one pair of leaves 
(or bracts). As the bud begins to open, and as soon as the tips of the 
petals separate, the 5 pale green stigmas are seen as a line athwart the 
stamens. M. brevifolium, Ait. suggests an alliance, but in our species the 
leaves are concave above and slightly decurrent, so that the white scar 
left by a fallen leaf is oblique (say 45°), the papillae are larger, flowers 
much smaller and with a differently-shaped receptacle, and the peduncles 
are much shorter and with a fine wire-like rigidity. 
Dr Muir writes: “This exquisite little Mesemb. is quite common but 
fragile and difficult to get to grow. It is a more or less erect shrublet, 
3 \ ins. high and 8 ins. in spread. The stem where it issues from the ground 
is t l in. in diam. but flattens out (probably abnormally) and becomes | in. 
wide (not in diam.). In the Karoo it is taller — up to 12 ins.” 
Mesembrianthemum Lawsonii, L. Bolus. Humile, dense caespitosum, cum 
aetate robustum, glaberrimum, ramis ad 3 mm. diam. vel ultra, ramulis 
floriferis gracilibus, dense 4 — 6-foliatis vel rarius 8-foliatis, foliis infimis 
marcescentibus induratisque, marginibus corneis albis; folia adscendentia, 
demum patentia, basi connata, vagina ca. 1 mm. longa, carinata, supra 
plana, lateribus convexis, acuta inconspicue apiculata, levissima glauca, 
superne roseo-purpurea, 4 — 6 mm. longa, basi ad 3 mm. lata diametroque; 
flores solitarii meridiani, in genere inter minimos, ad 1 cm. diam.; pedun- 
culus in foliis supremis inclusus, 1 mm. longus; receptaculum subobconi- 
cum; sepala 5, inter se fere aequilonga, ovata vel lanceolato-ovata acuta, 
3 membranaceo-marginata, 2 — 2-5 mm. longa; petala 1-seriata vel, 
interioribus brevioribus paucis additis, 2-seriata, conferta linearia, 
apicem versus parum ampliata, obtusa, laete rosea, 3 — 3'5 mm. longa, 
ad 1 mm. lata; stamina conico-collecta, apice 1 mm. diam., staminodiis 
6 
B. H. 
