314. 



AKBORETUM AND FIIUTICKTUM. 



PART III. 



J: I.e. SPiNo'sA L. The spincd, or connnon, Caper Bush. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 7i'0. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 245. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 278. 



Si/nonymvs. The caper having been in exteu.sivc cultivation, and used for so long a period, has 

 names in nio.->t of the languages of the civilised world, and these, though too numerous to be given 

 here, will be found in Newman's Dictionary, or in the index of svnonyrncsto the Encyctopasdia of 

 Plants. In French, the name of the caper is Caprier or Tapenier; in Italian, Capriolo or Cap- 

 pero ; and in German, Kaperiistrauch. 



Engravings. Blackw. Herb., t. 417. ; Smith's Spic, 18. t. 12. ; Fl. Gr., 4S6. ; Bot. Mag,, t. 291. j and 

 our fig. fio. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Stipules spinose, hooked. Leaves ovate, roundish, deciduous. 



Pedicels solitary, 1 -flowered. {Don^s Mill., i. 278.) 

 Variett/. There is said to be a variety without spines, and with ovate leaves, 



the latter more or less hoary. 



Descrijjfion, Sfc. The com- 

 mon caper plant is a well- 

 known shrub, trailing and ram- 

 bling like the bramble, found 

 wild on the rocks in the south 

 of Italy, in the Grecian Islands, 

 and in various parts of Asia 

 Minor. The stems are woody, 

 and covered with a white bark, 

 round, smooth, and branching. 

 The leaves are oval or round- 

 ish, succulent, glaucous green, 

 and deciduous. The stipules, 



which are two, at the base of the footstalks, are transformed into spines. 

 The flowers are white, numerous, axillary, solitary, large, handsome, and 

 without smell. The petals are much larger than the sepals; .spreading, obovate, 

 waved, tender and flaccid ; white, faintly tinged with red or lilac. The stamens 

 are about 60, of the same length as the petals, sometimes a little longer. The 

 fruit is an oblong-oval coriaceous capsule. The root is long and woody, 

 and covered with a thick bark. 



Geography and Hhtory. Found wild in the southern countries of Europe, 

 in the Levant, in Sicily, and in the south of Spain, on rocks, walls, and dry 

 places. It is mentioned by Theophrastus as a wild plant, and incapable of be- 

 ing cultivated ; but, in the south of France, it has been grown for the flower 

 buds from time immemorial. It was cultivated by Gerard in 1596, who tells 

 us that he put the seeds into the brick walls of his garden, " which did spring 

 and o-row green ; " and Bradley states that, he sowed some seeds which he 

 procured from Italy on the garden walls of Camden House, near Kensington, 

 about the year 1716. Mr. Miller mentions an old plant growing there (proba- 

 bly the same that Bradley sowed), which resisted the cold many years, and 

 annually produced many flowers, but the young shoots were frequently killed 

 to the stump during the winter. This plant died about the year 1816. In 

 f^eneral, the caper bush is grown in green-houses or stoves, but even in them 

 ft is not very frequent, and is seldom seen in flower. The largest plant that 

 we know of in England is in the bed of a conservatory at Troughton Hall, 

 near Manchester; its shoots cover a space between 20ft. and 30ft. long, and 

 4ft. or 5ft. wide, and it is profusely covered with blossoms every year. 



Properties and Uses. The flower buds are well known throughout Europe 

 and America as a pickle, and in the south of Italy the fruit is prepared in the 

 same way as the buds. Their properties are, acridity, bitterness, and aroma. 

 The buds are gathered daily, from the middle of May, when they begin to ap- 

 pear, till the end of autumn. They are taken when about half the size which 

 they would attain when just about to expand. They are then thrown into a 

 cask, among salt and vinegar, in which they remain till the end of the season, 

 when they are taken out and sorted, and put into other casks with fresh vine- 

 gar, when they are fit for sale. Covered with vinegar, caper buds will keep 

 many year.s. It is said that in order to increase the green colour, it is cus- 

 tomary to imt filings of copper in the first pickle. Bosc states that, in order 



