Not a very large family, mostly natives of warm regions. Ours are
branching herbs, lying mostly on the ground; leaves mostly opposite or
in whorls; flowers perfect; sepals four or five; petals numerous, small
or none; stamens few or many, usually on the calyx; ovary sometimes
superior; fruit a capsule. In this country most of this family are dull
little plants, with inconspicuous flowers.
There are many kinds of Mesembryanthemum, mostly African; ours are
smooth, very succulent perennials; without stipules; leaves opposite;
calyx-lobes unequal and leaf-like; petals long, narrow and very
numerous, inserted with the innumerable stamens on the calyx-tube;
ovary with ten or twelve styles, becoming a sort of berry, containing
many minute seeds, and opening at the top in rainy weather. The
terribly long name is from the Greek, meaning "noonday flower."
[Sidenote: =Ice-plant=
_Mesembryánthemum crystállinum_
=White, pinkish
Spring
California=]
One of the queerest looking plants that it is possible to imagine,
the stout stems and large flat leaves thickly encrusted with millions
of small translucent beads, resembling glass or ice and giving a
glistening effect to the whole plant. They cluster especially thickly
along the wavy margins and under sides of the leaves, and on the
calyxes, and feel quite hard to the touch, but when they are crushed
underfoot they exude a watery juice, which is said to be alkaline and
injurious to shoe-leather. The stems and leaves are light bright-green,
the tips and margins tinged with bright pinkish-red, especially on dry
mesas, where this plant sometimes covers the ground for long distances
with flat rosettes, forming a thick, red carpet, beautiful in color.
In shadier, damper places, such as the crevices in the sea-cliffs at
La Jolla, it becomes quite a large, tall plant, scarcely tinged with
red and very glistening. The flowers are about an inch across, with
a greenish center, surrounded by numerous, small, yellowish anthers
and a single row of many, white or flesh-colored petals, suggesting
the tentacles of a sea-anemone. In fact the whole plant is curiously
suggestive of some low form of animal life. It is very troublesome to
farmers in the south near the sea, and also flourishes in the Mohave
Desert, in France and the Canary Islands.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Ice-plant--Mesembryanthemum crystallinum.]
[Sidenote: =Sea Fig, Fig-marigold=
_Mesembryánthemum aequilateràle_
=Pink
Spring
California=]
A very strange and conspicuous plant, often clothing sandy slopes
with a curious mantel of trailing, fleshy stems and foliage thickly
sprinkled with thousands of gaudy flowers. The stems are stout and
flattish, several feet long; the leaves three-sided, with flat faces,
tipped with a small reddish point; the calyx-lobes three-sided like
the leaves. The stems, leaves, and the calyx-lobes are all pale
bluish-green with a "bloom" and exceedingly succulent, the watery
juice running out in large drops when the plant is broken. The twigs
seem to be fitted into a sort of socket, from which they come out very
easily, so that the plant comes apart almost at a touch. The fragrant
flowers are two or three inches across, bright but crude in color, the
numerous, purplish-pink petals resembling the rays of a composite and
encircling a fuzzy ring of innumerable stamens, with white, threadlike
filaments and small, straw-colored anthers, around a dark-green
center, composed of the top of the calyx and the six to ten styles
of the ovary. This accommodating plant is very useful and ornamental
in hot, sandy places, where not much else will grow, and may be seen
hanging its long stems over the sea-cliffs all along the coast, from
Patagonia to Marin County in California. It also grows in Africa and is
extensively cultivated. The fruit is edible, with pulp and tiny seeds
something like a fig.
[Illustration: Sea Fig--Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale.]