112 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



CAPER BUSH.— CAPPARIS. 



Natural order, Putaminece. A genus of the 

 Polyandria Monogynia class. 



This shrub, or bush, the flower-buds of 

 which, when pickled, form such an agreeable 

 sauce to our boiled mutton, is not a native of 

 Europe, being originally brought out of 

 Egypt. Theophrastus, who wrote about 300 

 years before the birth of Christ, was of an 

 opinion, that the caper bush was of so wild 

 a nature as not to bear cultivation. Pliny, 

 in after-ages, entertained the same idea re- 

 specting the citrus tree, and says it will not 

 live out of its native country. The Roman 

 naturalist as little thought that his native 

 valleys would be covered with the fragrant 

 orange, as the Lesbian philosopher expected 

 the ruins of the temples would be overrun by 

 the trailings of the caper bush. This plant 

 seems to have sprung from a dry sandy soil ; 

 and since its migration into Europe has fixed 



