Mesembryanthemum edule

• Interesting Facts
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Description

Genus Mesembryanthemum

Herbs, annual or perennial , usually short-lived, succulent, usually conspicuously papillate , glabrous . Roots fibrous . Stems prostrate to ascending . Leaves basal and cauline, alternate or opposite, sessile or petiolate ; stipules absent; blade reddish with age, flat or terete , margins often undulate . Inflorescences terminal or axillary , flowers solitary or in cymes; bracts absent or 1-2, sessile or pedicellate . Flowers showy, 4-10[-20] mm diam., tubular ; calyx lobes (4-) 5, 2 often leaflike; petals (including petaloid staminodia) 20-40[-150], distinct or connate into short tube , free , white, pink, or yellowish, linear ; nectary glands 5; stamens 30[-120]; pistil (4-) 5-carpellate; ovary half-inferior, (4-) 5-loculed, convex ; placentation axile ; stigmas (4-) 5, erect , filiform . Fruits capsules, persistent , valves (4-) 5, with expanding interior keels when moistened, forming capsule lids when dried, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds 100-200, black or dark [light] reddish brown [ochre or whitish], compressed [globose ], often with 1 straight edge , 1 mm, smooth to rough with minute tubercles ; arils absent.

Species 74: introduced ; s, w Africa; also introduced in Mexico, South America, Europe (Mediterranean), Asia, Atlantic Islands, Australia.

As described here, Mesembryanthemum is the narrowly delineated genus sensu H. M. L. Bolus (1928-1958, part 3, p. 164, fig. 25) .

The ability of Mesembryanthemum crystallinum and M. nodiflorum to accumulate and release salt into the surrounding soil is one mechanism by which these species dominate disturbed areas (N. J. Vivrette and C. H. Muller 1977; N. J. Vivrette 1980) .[1]

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : L. Publication : Syst. Nat., ed. 10. 2: 1060 1759 [May-Jun 1759]

Similar Species

Members of the genus Mesembryanthemum

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 4 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

M. crassifolium (Dewplant) · M. crystallinum (Common Iceplant) · M. nodiflorum (Slender-Leaf Iceplant) · M. pugioniforme (Narrow-Leaved Iceplant)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A manual of botany: including the structure, functions, classification, properties and uses of plants. London, John Churchill, 1861. url p. 544.
• A supplement to F. Hamilton Davey's Flora of Cornwall / by Edgar Thurston and Chambré C. Vigurs. Truro: Oscar Blackford, Royal Printeries, 1922. url p. 61.
• An elementary course of botany: structural, physiological, and systematic / by Arthur Henfrey. London: John Van Voorst, 1878. url p. 692.
• An illustrated flora of the Pacific States: Washington, Oregon, and California. Stanford University, Stanford University Press, 1923-[60] url p. 119.
• An introduction to the natural system of botany: or, A systematic view of the organization, natural affinities, and geographical distribution of the whole vegetable kingdom; together with the uses of the most important species in medicine, the arts, By John Lindley. New York, G. & C. & H. Carvill, 1831. url p. 381.
• Botanical survey of Natal and Zululand. By R.D. Aitken, B. SC., and G.W. Gale, B. SC.. .. Pretoria: The Government printing and stationery office, 1921. url p. 13.
• Britton, N. L. (ed.). North American flora. [New York]New York Botanical Garden. url p. 277.
• Bulletin of entomological research. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux. url p. 132, p. 21, p. 216.
• Bulletin of miscellaneous information /Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1912 London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1900-1941. url p. 284, p. 343.
• Carnegie Institution of Washington publication. Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1902- url p. 145, p. 45.
• Catalogue of economic plants in the collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1891. url .
• Catalogue of the economic products of the Presidency of Bombay: being a catalogue of the Government Central Museum, Division 1., Raw produce (vegetable) / compiled by Assistant Surgeon Birdwood. Bombay: Printed at the Education Society's Press, 1862. url p. 160.
• Cooperative economic insect report. Hyattsville, MD. [etc.]Plant Protection and Quarantine Programs Animal and Plant Health Service. url p. 698.
• Cyclopedia of American horticulture, comprising suggestions for cultivation of horticultural plants, descriptions of the species of fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants sold in the United by L. H. Bailey. .. assisted by William Miller. .. and many expert cultivators and botanists. London: The Macmillan company, 1909. url p. 588.
• Farmer's cyclopedia: a compilation of such bulletins and reports as are indispensable to the practical farmer. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, Page, 1914. url p. 145.
• Flowering plants of the Riviera: a sescriptive account of 1800 of the more interesting species / by H. Stuart Thompson; with an introduction on Riviera vegetation by A. G. Tansley London; New York: Longmans, Green, 1914. url p. 110.
• Forest culture and eucalyptus trees, San FranciscoCubery1876 url p. 499, p. 559.
• Fruits and fruit-trees, home and foreign. An index to the kinds valued in Britain, with descriptions, histories, and other particulars. By Leo H. Grindon. .. Manchester [Eng.]Palmer and Howe; [etc., etc.]1885. url p. 295.
• Gardening in Egypt: a handbook of gardening for Lower Egypt, by Walter Draper. .. London, L.U. Gill, 1895. url p. 76.
• Handbook of plants. New York: P. Henderson, 1881. url p. 132.
• Hardwicke's science-gossip: an illustrated medium of interchange and gossip for students and lovers of nature. London: Robert Hardwicke, 1866- url p. 155.
• Henderson's Handbook of plants and general horticulture / By Peter Henderson. New York, P. Henderson & Co., 1910. url p. 194.
• Horticultural register, and gardener's magazine. Boston, G. D. Barrett [etc.] url p. 103.
• Hydration and growth, Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1920. url , .
• Hydration and growth, by D. T. MacDougal. Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1920. url p. 145, p. 45.
• Hydration and growth. WashingtonCarnegie Institution of Washington1920 url p. 145.
• J.M. Nickell's botanical ready reference: especially designed for druggists and physicians: containing all of the botanical drugs known up to the present time, giving their medical properties, and all of their botanical, common, pharmacopoea compiled by J. M. Nickell. Chicago: Murray & Nickell Mfg. Co., 1911. url p. 161.
• My shrubs / London; John Lane, 1915. url .
• My shrubs / by Eden Phillpotts, with fifty illustrations. London; John Lane, 1915. url .
• Nicholson, G. The illustrated dictionary of gardening: a practical and scientific encyclopædia of horticulture for gardeners and botanists /edited by George Nicholson; assisted by J.W.H. Trail. .. and J. Garrett. .. 9 1884 London: L.U. Gill, [1884]-88. url p. 418, p. 448.
• Physiology at the farm in aid of rearing and feeding the live stock. Edinburgh and London, W. Blackwood and sons[1867]. url p. 386, p. xix.
• Point Lobos Reseerve; State Park, California. Interpretation of a primitive landscape. Sacramento, [State Print. Off., 1954] url p. 90.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 605, p. 703.
• Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Sydney, Linnean Society of New South Wales. url p. 396.
• Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Glasgow. Glasgow, Natural History Society of Glasgow. url .
• Report: . .. Washington, Blair & Rives, printers, 1838 url p. 103, p. 119.
• Riviera nature notes / a popular account of the more striking plants and animals of the Riviera and the Maritime Alps. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1903. url p. 190.
• Settler's guide and farmer's handbook. .. Issued by direction of the Bureau of agriculture. Ed. by L. Lindley-Cowen. .. pt. 1. Perth, E.S. Wigg, 1897- url p. 565.
• Silva Capensis, or a description of South African forest trees and arborescent shrubs used for technical and economical purposes. London, Ward, 1862. url p. 16, p. 52.
• South African journal of science. [Marshalltown, Transvaal: South African Association for the Advancement of Science, url p. 160.
• The Garden: an illustrated weekly journal of gardening in all its branches. London: [s.n., url , , p. 185, p. 244, p. 267, p. 39, p. 479, p. 51, p. 59, p. 75, p. 95.
• The Gardeners' chronicle: a weekly illustrated journal of horticulture and allied subjects. London: [Gardeners Chronicle], 1874-1955. url , p. 129, p. 144, p. 145, p. 266, p. 266, p. 304, p. 310, p. 32, p. 344, p. 416, p. 558, p. 659, p. 679, p. 690.
• The Popular educator: a complete encyclopaedia of elementary, advanced and technical education. London, Cassell[1888] url .
• The Review of applied entomology. Farnham Royal, Eng., etc.: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, etc. url p. 562.
• The encyclopedia of gardening. A dictionary of cultivated plants, etc., giving in alphabetical sequence the culture and propagation of hardy and half-hardy plants, trees and shrubs, orchids, ferns, fruit, vegetables, hothouse and g London, W. H. & L. Collingridge[1908] url .
• The naturalisation of animals & plants in New Zealand, Cambridge [Eng.]University Press, 1922. url , .
• The standard cyclopedia of horticulture; a discussion, for the amateur, and the professional and commercial grower, of the kinds, characteristics and methods of cultivation of the species of plants grown in the regions of the United States a Illustrated with colored plates, four thousand engravings in the text, and ninety-six full-page cuts. New York, Macmillan, 1919 [c1914] url p. 2040, p. 2041, p. 30.
• The students' flora of New Zealand and the outlying islands. Wellington, N. Z., John Mackay, govt. printer[1899] url .
• The vegetable kingdom: or, The structure, classification, and uses of plants, illustrated upon the natural system / by John Lindley. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846. url p. 525.
• Transactions and proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. Wellington: New Zealand Institute. url p. 283.
• Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 18 1907 Cape Town, : The Society. url p. 160, p. l
• Zambezia: a general description of the valley of the Zambezi River, from its delta to the River Aroangwa, with its history, agriculture, flora, fauna, and ethnography / London: J. Murray, 1910. url , .
• iv.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 11, 2012.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2784041
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 4029240

Footnotes

1. Nancy J. Vivrette "Mesembryanthemum". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 76, 77, 84. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.