CArPARIDACETP: 



66 



glaucous, and deciduous. 2 crooked spines appearing at the liase of the leaf- 

 stalk. Flowers on long stalks, white, numerous and axillary, large and showy, 

 but without fragrance. Tetals much longer than the sepals, wedge strap- 

 shape, spreading or recurved. Stamens sometimes GO in number, about as 

 long as the petals. Fruit a leathery, obovoid, succulent capsule, berry -like ; 

 seeds numerous, kidney-shaped. .Shrub. Flowers from June to August. 



2. C. soldada is found in central Africa, bearing a fruit resembling the cur- 

 rant, and is eaten fresh from the bush, and also dried. 



■i. C. ferruginea has a rusty, narrow leaf. It is found in the West Indies. 



The berries have a jjungent, mustard-like taste, and ou that account the plant 

 is called the mustard shrub. 



Geography. — The Capparis grcjws and fruits in southern Europe, and all 

 the countries of the Mediterranean. The market is supplied from the planta- 

 tions and wild copses 

 of Sicily and Malta, 

 and other islands of 

 the Mediterranean, 

 and from the south of 

 France. It loves the 

 rocks, and its habit is 

 well pictured in the 

 following quotation : 



" This beautiful 

 plant is rooted in 

 many a crevice of the 

 palace of the Cagsars 

 at Rome ; it spreads 

 its green, glossy leaves 

 and starry white flow- 

 ers, with their long, 

 purple anthers, over 

 the ruins of that once 

 stirring place, the Col- 

 osseum, and clothes 

 the arches of the tem- 

 ple of peace with fe.s- 

 toons which adorn 

 without hiding their 



beauty; the ancient tombs of the Campagna are frequentlv hung with it • 

 rocks of Naples are favorable to it; and it has fixed itself 1.0^ onlv on 

 mouldering cliffs of Malta, but in the narrow crevices of the fortification." 



Etymology. — Capparis is Latin, through the Greek Kdinrirapis, from the 

 Arabic Knhar, the Persian name of this plant, the meaning of which is not 

 known. Spinosa is Latin, meaning prickly, and is due to the thorns that ap- 

 pear at the base of the leaf-stalks. Caper, the popular name, is a corrui)tion 

 of capparis, the generic name. 



ffistory. — T]u- nxper was well known to the (ireeks and Romans, and was 

 mentioned by the early writers on natural history, especiallv Theophrastus. 

 Dioscorides, and Pliny. The capparis is among the plants known to the ancient 

 Hebrews as thorns. 'I'he Jlower-buds were preserved in salt or vinegar, and 

 offered to gue.sts just before dinner as an excitant to tiie appetite. It is dainied 



>^^^ 



SPINOSA (Caper). 



the 

 the 



