Flora of New Zealand Series

Mesembryanthemum australe Sol. ex Ait. Hort. Kew. 2, 1789, 187.

Horokaka.

Stems stout, ± 5 mm. diam., branching, prostrate, up to 1 m. or more long. Lvs opp. or in opp. clusters, connate at base, (1)-2-4-(5) cm. long, linear to linear-oblong to narrow-spathulate when dry, succulent and triquetrous when fresh, acute to obtuse. Fls 2-3 cm. diam.; peduncle stout, thickening upwards, 1-4 cm. long. Calyx-tube turbinate, thick, fleshy; lobes 5, 2 much longer than rest. Staminodes ∞, spreading, linear to ligulate, pink to white, c. 1 cm. long. Carpels 5-8-celled; styles 5-8.

DIST.: K., N., S., St., Ch. Common on coastal rocks, cliffs and gravels throughout.

FL. 7-3. FT. 9-4.

Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 20) suggest that certain intermediate forms found near Castlepoint may be due to hybridism with the naturalized Carpobrotus aequilateralis.