44 FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE RIVIERA 



RAPHANUS L. 



R. Raphanistrum L. Wild Radish or White Charlock. Stem 1-3 ft. 

 high, branched hairy or hispid. Lower leaves lyrate, upper ones oblong, toothed. 

 Flowers pale yellow, sometimes white or mauve. Pods erect, corky rugose, 

 divided transversely into several ribbed oblong joints, with a flattened beak four 

 or five times as long as the last joint. Plant polymorphic, and usually annual. 



Fields and road-sides in the Var. April-June. 



Ardoino said he " had not come across in the region of his ' flora ' this plant 

 so common in all Europe ". 



Sub. sp. R. Landra Mor. is sometimes found on sandy places near the sea. 



CAPPARIDACE^. 

 CAPPARIS L. 



C. spinosa L. Caper, Caprier, Prov. Tapdnig. Plant half-ligneous, with 

 numerous ascending stems, a yard or more long. Leaves alternate, rather fleshy, 

 glaucose, oval-rounded, entire, with short petiole guarded at the base by two reflexed 

 spines. Flowers very large, pinkish-white, solitary on thick axillary peduncles. 

 Sepals four, ovate, greenish. Petals four, oboval, larger than the calyx. Stamens 

 very numerous, longer than the corolla. Stigma sessile. Berry indehiscent. 



Cultivated, and adventitious on old walls and rocks. May-September. 



The capers are the flower-buds, and not the fruit as often supposed. They 

 are collected in the summer and put in vinegar. The leaves are often attacked by 

 a parasitic fungus (Cystopus Capparidis) which produces whitish blotches and 

 sometimes seriously damages the plant. 



CISTACE^E. 



Capsule 5-io-celled (complete), stigma discoid, 5-10 lobes. Shrubs or under- 

 shrubs with large flowers CISTUS. 



Capsule 2-3-celled (incomplete), stigma 3 lobed, all stamens fertile. Under- 

 shrubs or herbs with usually small flowers, 2 outer sepals very small 



HELIANTHEMUM. 



Capsule 2-3-celled, stigma distinctly 3 lobed, outer stamens sterile FUMANA. 



CISTUS L. 



* Flowers red. 



C. albidus L. (Plate VI). A shrub 2-4 ft. high. Leaves whitish- green 

 with tomentum, oblong, or ovate lanceolate, sessile, semi-embracing. Flowers 

 very large, rose or magenta coloured (rarely white), crenate at the edges and 

 wrinkled, 1-4 at summit of the branches, almost in an umbel. Capsule ovoid, 

 velvety, shorter than calyx. Sepals ovate-acuminate. Hoary Cistus. 



Dry hills and woods, especially on limestone. March-May. 



C. crispUS L. A shrub 1-2 ft. high, pale green, branches covered with 

 long hairs. Leaves sessile, oblong-lanceolate, crisped at the borders, rugose. 

 Flowers large, magenta coloured, almost sessile in clusters at the summit of the 

 branches. Sepals lanceolate-acuminate. Capsule small, downy, much shorter 

 than calyx. Leaves densely covered with stellate hairs. 



Borders of fields and dry woods on siliceous soil. May-June. Uncommon. 

 Grasse, Bormes, Fre"jus, Porquerolles, etc. 



** Flowers white. 



C. monspeliensis L. (Plate VI). Shrub 2-3 ft. high, green, very scented, 

 hairy and viscous in the upper parts, glabrous below. Leaves sessile, narrow- 

 lanceolate, dark green above, paler beneath, edges curled under, rugose, 3-5 

 nerved. Flowers 3-10 in terminal unilateral racemes. Petals white with yellow 

 spot at base, twice length of calyx. Sepals 5, ovate, acuminate, the 2 outer ones 

 rather larger. Capsule ovoid. (See also Plate VII.) 



