Mesembs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Fleshy, drought-tolerant succulent plants of the family Aizoaceae, often grown for their brightly coloured daisy-like flowers
2. Water-storing desert succulents from the fig-marigold family Aizoaceae, typically native to southern Africa and valued in dry gardens
3. Members of the Aizoaceae family, a group of thick-leaved, sun-loving succulents that include the popular living stones and ice plants

Etymology: "Mesembs" is the plural of "mesemb", a clipping of "Mesembryanthemoideae", the name of a subfamily within the Aizoaceae. The longer name is built from Greek roots: "mesembria", meaning midday, combined with "anthemon", meaning flower, so the name refers to flowers that open in the midday sun. Botanists took the name from the genus Mesembryanthemum, whose flowers open when the sun is strong and close in shade or at night. The clipped form is what gives the plural its everyday use. Gardeners and succulent collectors say "mesembs" as shorthand for the whole group of plants, which now sit in a wider family with many more genera, though the original name still reflects the flowers that first gave the group its identity.