Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A large genus of dicotyledonous polypetalous plants of the natural order Ficoideæ, the figmarigold family, type of the tribe Mesembryanthemeæ.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A genus of herbaceous or suffruticose plants, chiefly natives of South Africa. The leaves are opposite, thick, and fleshy. The flowers usually open about midday, whence the name.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun South African annual or biennial plants having flowers that open only in bright sunlight
Etymologies
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Examples
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For DP Robin, Lithops, Conophytums and several other families of similar-looking plants all belong to the Mesembryanthemum family, along with familiar garden plant like Hottentot Fig.
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Rocky and sand plants include Mesembryanthemum gaussenii (E), Pseuderucaria clavata and Acacia scorpioides.
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The principal inducement to the natives to frequent the small plains where we were encamped, appeared to be, to get the fruit of the Mesembryanthemum, which grew there in immense quantities, and was now just ripe; whilst the scrub, by which these plains were surrounded, seemed to be alive with wallabie, adding variety to abundance in the article of food.
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For some days past, we had been travelling through a country in which the Mesembryanthemum grows in the greatest abundance, it was in full fruit, and constituted a favourite and important article of food among the native population; all our party partook of it freely, and found it both a wholesome and an agreeable addition to their fare; when ripe, the fruit is rich, juicy, and sweet, of about the size of a gooseberry.
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It was most provoking to see the careless indifference with which they did this, sheltering themselves under the shade of a few shrubs, or lounging about the slopes near us, to gather the berries of the Mesembryanthemum.
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One of this family is edible (‘Mesembryanthemum edule’); another possesses a tuberous root, which may be eaten raw; and all are furnished with thick, fleshy leaves, having pores capable of imbibing and retaining moisture from a very dry atmosphere and soil, so that, if a leaf is broken during a period of the greatest drought, it shows abundant circulating sap.
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The ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) is native to South Africa.
Chapter 7 1990
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Caragana appears at about 10,000 feet, a Tamerioid of large stature in abundance, Asphodelus, not as I thought a Mesembryanthemum, but a beautiful and very distinct species; see Catalogue for other plants.
Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries William Griffith
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R. mesembryanthemoides (Mesembryanthemum-like); Bot.
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Thus, in R. Cassytha, the long, fleshy, whip-like branches and white berries are very similar to Mistletoe; R. salicornoides, with its leafless, knotty branches, resembles a Salicornia, or Marsh Samphire; another is like a Mesembryanthemum; and so on.
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