Mesembryanthemum

Jacob Breyne coined the name of the flower in 1684, using the spelling Mesembrianthemum ("midday flower"[3]), from the Greek roots μεσημβρία, meaning "noon", and ἄνθεμον, meaning "flower", because the species known at his time flowered at midday. In 1719, on the discovery that some species flowered at night, Johann Jacob Dillenius changed the spelling to Mesembryanthemum ("flower with the pistil in the center"[3]), rederiving the first part of the word from Greek μεσος ("middle") and ἔμβρυον ("pistil" or "embryo"). Carl Linnaeus used the Dillenius spelling (with the "y") in his description of the Mesembryanthemum species and the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature requires the retention of the original, deliberate spelling.[3][4]

Mesembryanthemums are often cultivated as ornamental plants for their showy flowers. Ornamental plants may escape into the wild and consequently has become widely naturalized outside their native range. They are considered an invasive weed in certain places.

Some Mesembryanthemum species are thought to be hallucinogenic plants, like related Aizoaceae,[5] and as such may be subject to legal restrictions (e.g. Louisiana State Act 159).

As of March 2019, Plants of the World Online accepted the following species:[6]

• 
  M. crystallinum
• 
  M. nodiflorum

• N. E. Brown
• The botanical family Aizoaceae, also called Mesembryanthemaceae

• Pink, A. (2004). Gardening for the Million. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.
• Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)