Tetragonia
(from tetra, four, and gonia, an angle; alluding to the fruit). SYN. Demidovia. ORD. Ficoideae. A genus comprising about a score species of greenhouse or hardy, prostrate or somewhat climbing herbs or sub-shrubs, mostly South African, a few being also found on the shores of Eastern Asia, Australia, and temperate South America. Flowers green, yellowish, or reddish, axillary, solitary or few, sessile or on long pedicels, sometimes sub-spicate; calyx lobes three to five; petals none. Leaves alternate, oblong, linear, ovate, or deltoid, entire, rather thick; stipules absent. T. expansa, the only species calling for description here, is grown in gardens as a substitute for summer Spinach. For culture, &c., see New Zealand Spinach. T. expansa (expanded). New Zealand Ice Plant; New Zealand Spinach. fl. yellow, small, on very short pedicels or almost sessile in the axils, solitary or twin. l. petiolate, the larger ones ovate, triangular, or broadly hastate, 2in. to 4in. long, entire, obtuse or acute the smaller ones narrower. Australia, New Zealand, &c. Plant hardy, decumbent or prostrate, often extending to several feet.(B. M. 2362.)