CAPPARIDACEAE 215 
1. CAPPARIS Linnaeus 
Erect or climbing shrubs or small trees, armed with short, sharp, re- 
flexed, stipular spines. Leaves simple, entire. Inflorescence various, the 
flowers axillary, solitary, fascicled, umbellate, or arranged in vertical lines 
along the branches, or racemose, or paniculate. Sepals 4,in 2 series. Petals 
4, imbricate, white or colored. Stamens many, inserted at the base of the 
long, slender gynophore. Ovary long-stalked. Fruit globose to ovoid, fleshy, 
indeshiscent. Seeds many, imbedded in the pulp of the fruit. (The Latin 
name for the caper.) 
Species 120 or more in most warm and tropical countries, about 15 in 
the Philippines. 
1. Flowers in axillary umbels; leaves small; spiny vines........ 1. C. sepiaria 
1. Flowers in vertical lines along the branches. 
2: Glabrous; ‘erect OF SUDETOCE .....2 ic. scecseecinsencnsectanee 2. C. micracantha 
2. Younger parts brown-tomentose; climbing........................ 3. C. horrida 
1. Flowers large, solitary, long-pedicelled; an erect, unarmed shrub. 
4. C. cordifolia 
1. C. sepiaria L. 
A woody vine 1.5 to 3 m high, the young branches pubescent, spines 
short, sharp, recurved. Leaves oblong-ovate to elliptic-ovate, 2 to 8 cm 
long, retuse. Flowers in 5- to 15-flowered, axillary and terminal, sessile or 
short-peduncled umbels, the pedicels slender, 1 to 1.5 cm long. Sepals green, 
concave. Petals oblong, white, ciliate, 7 to 8 mm long. Fruit globose, 8 to 
10 mm in diameter, nearly black when mature, 1-seeded. (FI. Filip. pl. 209.) 
In dry thickets Pasay to Pasig, etc., fl. Mar.-May; widely distributed in 
the Philippines. India to southern China and the Philippines. 
2. C. micracantha DC. Halobagat (Tag.). 
A glabrous suberect shrub with drooping branches, or scandent, 2 to 4m 
high, the stipular thorns short, sharp, nearly straight. Leaves oblong or 
oblong-elliptic, 8 to 17 cm long, leathery, shining, obtuse, apiculate, base 
rounded. Flowers in vertical lines along the branches above the leaf-axils, 
shortly pedicelled, 2 to 6 in a series, the uppermost one of each series opening 
first. Sepals pale-green. Petals oblong or elliptic, about 1 cm long, white, 
or the lower ones yellowish or reddish. Stamens white, much exceeding the 
petals. Fruits ovoid or globose, about 5 cm in diameter. (FI. Filip. pl. 180, 
C. callosa.) 
In thickets, occasional, fl. Nov._Feb.; common and widely distributted in 
the Philippines. India to Malaya. 
8. C. horrida L. Dauag (Tag.). 
A climbing spiny shrub reaching a height of 3 m or more, the young 
leaves and branches pubescent. Spines short, sharp, recurved, in pairs 
subtending each leaf or branch. Leaves oblong to oblong-ovate, acuminate, 
9 to 15 cm long, soon becoming leathery and glabrous or nearly so. Flowers, 
seriately arranged in vertical lines above the axils, usually 3 to each axil, 
the pedicels 1 to 2cmlong. Sepals green, concave, about 1 cm long. Petals 
pink, soon turning purplish, pubescent inside, 1.5 to 1.8 cm long narrowly 
obovate-oblong to oblong. Stamens pink, soon turning dark-purple, about 
3.5 em long. Fruit subglobose to ellipsoid, 2 to 3 cm in diameter, fleshy. 
(Fl. Filip. pl. 178, C. micracantha.) 
In thickets, Pasay, etc., fl. Jan._Mar.; widely distributed in the Philip- 
pines. India to Malaya. 
