Plate 54. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM aloides. Bechuanaland.

Ficoideae. Tribe Mebembryanthemeae.

Mesembryanthemum, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. vol. i. p. 853.

Mesembryanthemum aloides, Haw. Suppl. p. 88; Fl. Cap. vol. ii. p. 396.

This extremely rare plant, which was first found by Burchell at Metlowing and at Jabirn Fontein, near Takun in Bechuanaland, in 1812, was recently rediscovered by Dr. I. B. Pole Evans near Postmas Berg, and has been established in the garden of the Division of Botany, Pretoria. In the Journal of the Linnean Society (vol. xlv. p. 123) for 1920, Mr. N. E. Brown gives a fuller description of the species based mainly on a coloured drawing of the plant made by Burchell, who states that the roots are “eaten by natives as a substitute for better food.”

The specimen from which the present plate was prepared flowered at Pretoria in August, and has enabled us to draw up a more complete description.

Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium.

Description:—A stemless plant. Root thick and woody. Leaves tufted, 8-12 in a cluster, forming a rosette about 9 cm. in diameter, 3-5·5 cm. long, 1-1·7 cm. broad in the widest part, lanceolate-spathulate viewed from above, acuminate, obtuse, mucronate at the apex and shaped like the bow of a boat, slightly narrowed at the base and sheathing, flat above, keeled beneath, dotted with white spots on both surfaces. Flowers lemon-yellow, sessile between the leaves. Calyx-tube 2·2 cm. long, widening from a cylindrical base to 1·2 cm. in diameter above, sparsely pustulate above; lobes of two different lengths, pustulate; the longer 1·7 cm. long, ovate, acuminate; the shorter 9 mm. long with membranous margins. Corolla 2·5 cm. in diameter when expanded; petals up to 1 cm. long, 1 mm. broad, linear, obtuse. Filaments about 5 mm. long, hairy at the base. Ovary 10-celled; styles 10 free. Fruit not seen.

Plate 54.—Fig. 1, calyx and calyx lobes; Fig. 2, petal; Fig. 3, stamen; Fig. 4, top of ovary showing styles; Fig. 5, transverse section of ovary; Fig. 6, longitudinal section of leaf; Fig. 7, transverse section of leaf near the apex; Fig. 8, apex of leaf.

F.P.S.A., 1922.

K. A. Lansdell del.