CAPPARIDACE^E 365 



villose on the under side of the midrib when they unfold, soon glabrous, and at maturity 

 dark green and lustrous above, pale below, 3'-4' long and \\'-% wide, with slightly undulate 

 margins, a prominent midrib, slender primary veins, and reticulate veinlets conspicuous on 

 the lower surface; petioles stout, narrow wing-margined at apex, pubescent when they first 

 appear, soon glabrous, -3-'-^' in length. Flowers glabrous or puberulous, purplish, about 

 T V long, in 3-5-flowered cymes on slender peduncles, in pubescent panicles shorter than 

 the leaves; tube of the perianth funnel- form, the lobes equal, triangular, acute; column of 

 stamens pilose; ovary glabrous. Fruit in few-fruited clusters on much elongated and 

 thickened peduncles, ellipsoidal or slightly ovoid, acute, dark blue, f long and f thick; 

 cupule light red, thickened and verrucose, acute at base, the margin reflexed, thin and en- 

 tire on the inner edge, thick and crenulate on the outer edge; seed ellipsoidal, pointed at 

 apex, rounded at base, light brown, slightly ridged when dry. 



A tree in Florida 40-50 high, with a tall trunk 15'-20' in diameter, small spreading and 

 pendent branches forming a broad round-topped head, and slender red branchlets pubes- 

 cent when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous, and marked by numerous large pale 

 lenticels. 



Rich hummocks between Miami and Homestead, Dade County, Florida; in Cuba and 

 Jamaica. 



XIX. CAPPARIDACE^. 



Annual or perennial herbs, trees, or shrubs, w y ith acrid often pungent juices, alternate 

 or rarely opposite leaves, regular or irregular usually perfect flowers in terminal cymes 

 or racemes or solitary, numerous ovules inserted in two rows on each of the two placentas, 

 capsular or baccate 1-celled fruit, and seeds without albumen. A family of thirty-four 

 genera, mostly confined to the warmer parts of the world and widely distributed in the two 

 hemispheres. Of the seven genera which occur in North America only one has an arbores- 

 cent representative. 



1. CAPPARIS L. 



Trees, with naked buds. Leaves conduplicate in the bud, entire, feather- veined, coria- 

 ceous, persistent, without stipules. Flowers regular, in terminal cymes; sepals 4, valvate 

 in the bud, glandular on the inner surface; petals 4, inserted on the base of the short re- 

 ceptacle; stamens numerous, inserted on the receptacle, their filaments free, elongated, 

 much longer than the introrse 2-celled anthers opening longitudinally; ovary long-stalked, 

 2-celled, with 2 parietal placentas; stigmas sessile, orbicular; ovules campy lotropous. 

 Fruit baccate, siliquiform (in the North American species) separating into 3 or 4 valves. 

 Seeds reniform, numerous, surrounded by pulp; seed-coat coriaceous; embryo convolute; 

 cotyledons foliaceous, fleshy. 



Capparis, with more than one hundred species, mostly tropical, is found in the two 

 hemispheres, the largest number of species occurring in Central and South America. Two 

 of the West Indian species reach the shores of southern Florida, the most northern station 

 of the genus in America; of these one is arborescent. 



Capparis, from Kairira.^, the classical name of Capparis spinosa L., is derived from 

 the Persian kabor, capers, the dried flower-buds of that species. 



1. Capparis jamaicensis Jacq. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, rounded and emarginate at apex, slightly revolute, coriaceous, 

 light yellow-green, smooth and lustrous on the upper surface, covered on the lower by 

 minute ferrugineous scales, 2'-3' long, l'-l|' wide, with a prominent midrib and incon- 

 spicuous primary veins; petioles stout covered at first with ferrugineous scales often be- 

 coming nearly glabrous, %'-%' in length. Flowers 1|' in diameter, opening in Florida in 

 April and May from obtuse or acute, 4-angled buds; sepals ovate, acute, lepidote on the 

 outer surface, furnished on the inner with a small ovate gland, recurved when the flower is 



