40 LETTER XXIX. 



mon occurrence that Botanists are obliged to have 

 recourse to it frequently. You will understand this 

 readily enough if you compare with each other Plates 

 I. 2. jig. 6. ; IV. 2. fig. 6. ; and V. 1. fig. 4. 



Should you now seek to discover some tribe of plants 

 with which the Mignonette can be identified, you 

 would undoubtedly fail, for it is extremely unlike 

 any of those hitherto mentioned to you by me. On 

 this account it forms a group by itself, called Rese- 

 dacese, or the Mignonette Tribe. There are, how- 

 ever, plants allied to it by many important characters, 

 the most interesting being what are popularly called 

 Capers. We \\ill now investigate their structure. 



The Caper Tribe (Capparidacese), may be con- 

 sidered as represented by that species which furnishes 

 the Capers sold by the Italian oil-men. This plant 

 (Capparis spinosa, Plate XXIX. 2.) inhabits the 

 chalk and volcanic rocks of the South of Italy and 

 Sicily, especially those within the influence of the sea ; 

 there it enjoys a bright warm summer and a mild and 

 equable wanter, and trailing over the precipices that it 

 inhabits, gives to the wild and rugged scenery a sum- 

 mer charm which the Myrtle and the Rock-rose in vain 

 attempt to emulate. Wherever a similar climate can be 

 found, the Caper bush is transferred for cultivation, 

 on account of the mild, agreeably pungent properties 

 of its flower-buds. It is these which form the Capers 

 of the shops, their quality depending upon the age at 

 which they have been collected ; the youngest, and con- 

 sequently the smallest, forming samples of the best. 



