126 CHAPTER XVII. 



position in which they grow. The reason is not clear ; 

 it may be that when the stigma happens to be fertilized 

 without delay, the corolla, no longer needed, withers. 

 It is well known that the corolla of many flowers will 

 persist much longer when fertilization is delayed. A 

 great deal of honey is secreted in the nectary, and the 

 flowers appear to be largely, if not entirely, dependent 

 on insect visits. It would be interesting to observe 

 what insects frequent the Caper. Miiller, the great 

 authority on these questions, gives no information 



The French version of the passage in Ecclesiastes 

 is worth transcribing, for it is full of music, and not 

 wanting in solemnity : " Quand on redoutera les 

 lieux Sieve's, et qu'on tremblera en marchant, quand 

 1'amandier fleurira, et que le chant de la cigale sera 

 un ennui, et quand Yappetit f aiblira, parce que Fhomme 

 s'en va dans la demeure qu'il ne quittera plus." Here 

 the Hebrew word for Caper is translated " appetite," 

 a meaning it often bears, because the flower buds 

 are universally used as a condiment. This use of the 

 buds accounts for the fact that the plant is so rarely 

 seen in flower when it grows in accessible places. 



Of all the plants which live in the Sahara, 

 Capparis spinosa alone has a leaf with broadly 

 dilated lamina. To obviate this serious disadvantage, 

 the leaves are placed edgewise to the sun. This is 

 accomplished partly by an alteration in the position of 

 each petiole, partly by the torsion of the axis, the 

 plant working always in the direction of least resist- 

 ance. Although some varieties appear to be 

 distichous, the Caper has a f phyllotaxy (Professor 

 J. Massart, " Voyage au Sahara"). It would appear 

 that the Summer heat and drought on the Eiviera are 



