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CANTHIUM CAPRELLID.E. 



CANTHIUM (Lamarck). A single species of 

 plants so called ; said to be u Malabar shrub, belong- 

 ing to Pentandria Monogynia, and to the natural order 

 Rubiacctx. Generic character : calyx of four or five 

 sepals ; corolla, tube short, limb in four or five divi- 

 sions ; stamens inserted in the throat of the corolla ; 

 stigma headed ; berry dipyrena. 



CAPE JASMINE. An English name given to 

 the Gardenia radicans. It is one of the most fragrant 

 of our green-house plants, and when healthy and in 

 flower, one of the most beautiful. 



CAPE PHILLYREA. Is the Cass'me Capensis 

 of Linnaeus. It is an evergreen shrub with small 

 roundish leaves, common in our green-house collec- 

 tions. 



CAPER SPURGE. Is the Euphorbia laihyris of 

 Linnaeus, an herbaceous biennial indigenous to Eng- 

 land. It receives its English name from the custom 

 of using the seed-vessels as true capers, though much 

 inferior in flavour. 



CAPER TREE. Is the Capparis spinosa, or 

 cultivated caper of Linnaeus. There are nearly thirty 

 species of this genus, mostly tropical plants, and some 

 of them climbers. They belong to Polyandria Mono- 

 gynia, and give a title to the natural order Capparidea;. 

 Generic character : calyx in four divisions ; petals 

 four ; stamens subperigynous, numerous or few ; fila- 

 ments like threads ; anthers oblong and versatile ; 

 germen with a footstalk ; style none ; stigma obtuse 

 and sitting ; berry, barked, stipitate and many- 

 seeded. The capers of commerce are imported from 

 different ports of the Mediterranean and America ; 

 and in the south of Spain, France, and Italy, are 

 extensively cultivated. See CAPPARIDEA. 



CAPPARIDEA (Caper Family). A natural 

 order of dicotyledonous plants, containing seventeen 

 known genera, and nearly two hundred species. It 

 is closely allied to the Cruafcrce, from which it is 

 distinguished by the stamens being scarcely ever, 

 tetradynamous, and the seeds being kidney-shaped. 

 De . Candolle considers the order as intermediate 

 between two sections of his arrangement, the Thalami- 

 flor<E, or Calyciflorce. 



The essential botanical characters of the order are : 

 sepals four ; petals four, arranged in the form of a 

 cross, and frequently provided with a distinct claw ; 

 stamens almost perigynous, definite or indefinite, and 

 arranged in fours in several series ; disk hemisphe- 

 rical, or elongated, and often bearing glands ; ovary 

 stalked ; style wanting, or filiform ; fruit, a single- 

 celled, rarely single-seeded pod or berry ; seeds 

 generally uniform, without albumen ; embryo in- 

 curved. 



The plants belonging to this order are herbs, 

 shrubs or trees, with alternate stalked leaves, which 

 are either simple or palmate. They are chiefly met 

 with in tropical countries, and abound in Africa. 

 Some are found as far north as Canada. They are 

 propagated by cuttings and seeds. 



The Capparidea: resemble the Crucifcrts in their 

 sensible qualities, being acrid, stimulant, and anti- 

 scorbutic. 



The order has been divided by botanists into two 

 sections ; Clcomece, including the genera having 

 capsular fruit and herbaceous stems ; and Cappa- 

 rca;, containing those with fleshy fruit and shrubby 

 stems. The genera comprehended under the former 

 are, Cleome, Polanisia, Gynandropsis, Peritoma, and 

 Cleomella ; while under the latter we have Cappark, 



Cratccva, Niebuliria, Boscia, Slepliania, Morisonia, 

 Cadaba, &c. 



Capparis is the genus whence the name of the 

 order is derived. Capparix spinosa is interesting on 

 account of its furnishing the capers of commerce. It 

 is an elegant, low shrub, having much of the habit of 

 the bramble, and sending forth large white flowers 

 with long purple stamens. It grows in the crevices 

 of rocks, and on ruins, in the south of Europe. It is 

 found adorning the walls of Rome and Florence, and 

 is cultivated in the neighbourhood of Paris. In 

 Britain it is generally reared as a stove-plant, and 

 rarely succeeds in the open air. A plant, however, 

 stood for nearly a century on a wall at Camden 

 House, Kensington, and flowered pretty freely every 

 year. Capers, so highly esteemed as a pickle, are 

 the unopened flower-buds of the plant. During the 

 proper season, the) 7 are picked in the morning before 

 the petals expand, and are immediately put into 

 vinegar and salt. The are afterwards carefully se- 

 lected, and put into pure vinegar, and in this state are 

 fit for exportation. The filings of copper are some- 

 times added, in order to give the pickle a fine colour. 

 This addition, however, is highly dangerous, and 

 ought never to be practised. The best capers are 

 called Nonpareilks, the second-best Capucines. The 

 chief supply of caper-buds is from the island of Sicily. 

 The flower-buds of the Caltha palustrus, or common 

 marsh-marigold, are sometimes used as a substitute 

 for capers. In Italy, the unripe fruit is prepared 

 like the buds. The root, got from the Levant by the 

 Arabs, is used by them as a medicine, and as an 

 external application to malignant ulcers. The bark 

 of the root is said to be diuretic. 



A species of Capparis, found near Carthagena, is 

 said to yield poisonous fruit. 



Capparis cynophalloj)hora has large petals, and 

 stamens upwards of four inches long. 



Several species of Cleome, more particularly 

 Clcomc rosea, are very pretty and ornamental. 

 Some of them have a very pungent taste. Cleome 

 icosandra, or Polanisia viscosa, is used in some 

 countries as a blister, or sinapism. The root of 

 Cleome, or Polanisia dodecandra, is employed in the 

 United States as a vermifuge, and its leaves are said 

 to produce inflammation of the skin. 



The bark of the root of Cratceva Gynandra pro- 

 duces blisters when applied to the skin. Cratccva 

 Tapia yields a fruit of the size of an orange, having 

 a garlic flavour, which it communicates to the animals 

 that feed upon it. 



CAPRARIA (Linnaeus). A genus so called 

 because goats are fond of the leaves. Linnaean class 

 and order Didynamia angiospermia, and natural order 

 ScrophuUtrincB. Of five species two are hot-house 

 annuals, and three are under-shrubs. They are 

 treated as stove plants ; grow well in sandy loam, 

 and are easily increased by cuttings planted in sand, 

 and placed under a hand-glass in a warm temperature. 



CAPRELLID^E. , A remarkable family of crus- 

 taceous animals, belonging to the order Ltenwdipodu, 

 and distinguished from the other family in this order 

 which we have termed Cyamida;, (and with which it 

 was united by Dr. Leach, under the family name of 

 CaprellidcB] by having the body of a very narrow and 

 linear form, the composite eyes placed behind, the 

 upper antennae and ocelli wanting, and the legs long 

 and slender, and variable in number, the end of the 

 second pair being often toothed on its under side. 



