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.