Upon the mesas of the south we often see a shrubby member of the mallow family, with long, wandlike branches ornamented with closely set, pink flowers, of delicate texture and pleasant perfume. This is the false mallow. It is a very handsome and noticeable shrub when in full bloom. The anthers are golden brown, and the stigmas are spherical instead of filiform. Upon the seashore it blooms much earlier than in the valleys inland.
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM. FIG-MARIGOLD.
Mesembryanthemum æquilaterale, Haworth. Fig-marigold Family.
Succulent plants. Stems.—Elongating; forming large mats. Leaves.—Opposite; sessile; fleshy; three-angled; two inches or more long; oblong. Flowers.—Terminal; solitary; fifteen lines to two inches across; pink. Calyx.—With top-shaped tube and five-lobed border. Petals.—Very numerous; linear. Stamens.—Innumerable. Ovary.—Four- to twenty-celled. Stigmas six to ten. Hab.—The Coast, from Point Reyes southward.
The fig-marigold is a very common plant upon our seashore. It seems to flourish best toward the south, where it covers large tracts of sand with its succulent foliage, making mats of pleasant verdure in otherwise sandy wastes. Its stems often trail many yards down the cliffs, making beautiful natural draperies, decked with myriads of the pink blossoms. Because it is capable of withstanding the drouth in the most remarkable manner, it has been planted to produce verdure where irrigation is impossible. The very numerous slender petals give the flower the appearance at first sight of a Composita. The fruit is pulpy and full of very small seeds, like the fig, and has a suggestion of the flavor of the Isabella grape.
[FALSE MALLOW—Malvastrum Thurberi.]
![[FALSE MALLOW—Malvastrum Thurberi.]](#3624944100741987669_f078.png.id-2105218526623740252.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
Many species of Mesembryanthemum are cultivated in our gardens, mostly as border-plants. The genus is a large one, most of the species being native of Southern Africa, and it is supposed that the three species now common upon our Coast were introduced in the remote past without the agency of man.