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Capparis Spinosa. The Caper. Shrub. 



C/j/j ^7^ Order, 



POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Generic CharacJer. 



Cat, 4-phyllus, coriaceus. Petala 4. Stamina longa. ifacrs 

 corticofa, unilocularis, pedunculata. 



Specific Charafier and Synonyms, 



CAPPARIS fpinofa pedunculis unifloris folitariis, ftipulis fpi- 

 nofis, foliis annuis, capfulis ovalibus. Linn. Syft. 

 Vegetah. ed. 14. Murr.p. 487. Ait Kezv. v. 2. p. 2 2 1. 



CAPPARIS fpinofa fruclu minore, folio rotundo. Bauh, Pin* 

 p. 480. 



We are happy in having it in our power to lay before our 

 readers a representation of the Caper fhrub, whofe bloffoms are 

 rarely feen in this country, though its flower-buds are in very 

 general ufe as a pickle ; indeed, fo great is their confumption, 

 that they form a very confiderable article of commerce. 



The plant grows fpontaneoufly in the more fouthern parts of 

 Europe, efpecially in Italy and the Levant; in its wild ftate 

 it forms a fhrub of low growth, having numerous, fpreading, 

 fpinous branches, fomewhat thickly befet with fmooth roundifh 

 leaves ; the bloffoms grow alternately on the branches, and 

 when the plant begins to flower, one opens generally every 

 other morning, but fo delicate are its parts, that on a hot 

 fummer's day it fades before noon : the petals are white ; the 

 filaments, which are extremely numerous, are white below, and 

 of a rich purple above ; in thefc the beauty of the flower 

 chiefly confifls, as in the piftillum or pointal does its great 

 Angularity ; at firft view, one would be led to conclude, that 

 the part fo confpicuous in the centre of the flower was the. ftyle 

 terminated by the ftigma in the ufual way ; but if we trace 

 this part of the flower to a more advanced ftate, we fhall per- 

 ceive, that what we took for the ftyle, was merely an elonga- 

 tion of the flower-ftalk, and what we took for the ftigma, was 

 in reality the germen placed on it, crowned with a minute 



ftigma, 



