_Cal._ 5-fidus. _Petala_ numerosa linearia. _Caps._ carnosa infera
polysperma.

_Specific Character._

MESEMBRYANTHEMUM _pinnatifidum_ foliis pinnatifidis. _Linn. Syst.
Vegetab. p. 470. Suppl. p. 260._

[Illustration: 67]

This species of _Mesembryanthemum_, so different in the shape of its
foliage from all the others hitherto introduced into this country, is
first described in the _Supplementum Plantarum_ of the younger
LINNÆUS, from which we learn that it grew in the Upsal Garden,
into which it was most probably introduced by professor
THUNBERG, as on his authority it is mentioned as a native of
the Cape of Good Hope.

Mr. ZIER, Apothecary, of Castle-Street, was so obliging as to
present me this summer with the seeds of this curious plant, I sowed
them in a pot of earth, plunged in a tan pit, whose heat was nearly
exhausted; they quickly vegetated, and though the summer was far
advanced, they proceeded rapidly into flower, and bid fair to produce
ripe seeds, as the Capsules have long since been formed.

The whole plant is sprinkled over with glittering particles like the ice
plant, to which it bears some affinity in its duration, being an annual
and requiring the same treatment.