PLANTS. 229 



EIGHTH FAMILY. CAPARIDACEJS are shrubs or trees 

 with four-leaved flowers and six or more stamens ; many 

 of them bear berries. (Class 13, L.) The most remark- 

 able is 



The Caper Bush (Capparis spinosa), an ornamental 

 shrub, from the flexible branches of which hang tender, 

 pale-green, ovate leaves and light-red, or white, poppy- 

 like flowers. They grow in thickets under city walls or 

 on slopes in southern Europe ; the buds are plucked off, 

 laid for a few hours exposed to the air in the shade, and 

 pickled with salt and vinegar. As their use is said to 

 promote the digestion, they are highly valued as a 

 condiment. The bushes die down to the root every 

 year. h. 



NINTH FAMILY. BIXINA. (Class 13, L.) To this 

 belongs 



The Orleans Tree (Bixa orellana), and is rather a 

 shrub than a tree, being about the size of a hazel-nut 

 bush, which is cultivated in the damp grounds of the East 

 and West Indies. The handsome green leaves are heart- 

 shaped ; flowers flesh-color ; and the fruit, round and of 

 the size of a chestnut, contain about forty seeds, each as 

 large as a pea. They are surrounded by a red-colored 

 fluid, from which the color known as annotto or nankeen 

 color is made. h. 



TENTH FAMILY. VIOLACEOUS PLANTS. (Class 5, 

 L.) The first is 



The Violet (Viola odorata). Has broad, heart-shaped 

 leaves, with five unequal flower petals, of which the 

 lower is spurred. The flowers are blue, odoriferous, 

 and furnished with a footstalk. This well known and 

 favorite plant grows everywhere among the grass, by 

 hedges and under shade ; blooms in March and April, 



