Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/231

Mesembryanthemum. 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 loculicidally dehiscent, the valves opening in a star-like manner. Seeds numerous, minute; testa crustaceous.

1. M. australe, ''Sol. ex Forst. Prodr.'' 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, ½–1¼ in. long, linear or linear-oblong, triquetrous, flat above, convex and keeled beneath, acute or obtuse, thick and fleshy, often glaucous. Flowers ¾–1 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. Precur. n. 522; Raoul, Choix, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 76; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 83; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' iii. 324; Kirk, Students' Fl. 184.

2. M. aequilaterale, Haw. Misc. Nat. 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. long, very fleshy, linear, acutely triquetrous, smootn, equal-sided or laterally compressed. Flowers 1½ in. diam.; peduncles 1–3 in. long, thickened upwards, winged. Calyx-tube turbinate, ½ in. long or more; lobes unequal, the 2 larger ones often as long as the tube. Petals spreading. Styles 6–10. Capsule 6–10-celled.—''Benth. Fl. Austral.'' iii. 324; Kirk, Students' Fl. 184.

Herbs or undershrubs. Stems trailing or erect. Leaves alternate, petiolate, flat but more or less succulent. Flowers axillary, solitary or few together. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary and often produced above it, terete or angled; lobes 3–5. Petals wanting. Stamens inserted on the calyx-tube, variable in number, solitary or few or many. Ovary inferior. 2–8-celled; styles as many