0175 



CAPER 



Family: CAPPARIDACEAE. 



Reproductive system: POLYANDRY, MONOGYNY. 



The caper bush, Cappahs spinosa, LINN., is grown as an ornamental in our 

 gardens. In Provence it grows wild in stony areas and on old walls, where its vine 

 branches spread out to the point where they sometimes cover the entire facade. The stem 

 is cylindrical, smooth, and three or four feet long. The leaves are alternate, rounded, 

 obtuse, smooth and green and are armed at their bases with two thorns in the form of 

 stipules. The large solitary white flowers are on long peduncles set in the axils of the 

 leaves. The deciduous calyx has four equal-sized concave sections. The corolla has four 

 open petals rounded at the tips and narrowed at their bases. The very numerous purplish 

 stamens are longer than the petals and are inserted into the receptacle. The superior ovary 

 is on a long pedicel. It terminates in an obtuse sessile stigma. The fruit is a fleshy 

 pediculate silique that contains several seeds. 



FLOWERS: May and June. 



RANGE: Provence, in the vicinities of Grasse and Toulon. 



NOMENCLATURE. In Provence it's called taperier, from the Greek word 

 tapeinos, meaning humble, not rising above the ground. German, stachlichte kapern, 

 gemeine kapern. Dutch, gedoornde kappers. English, the prickly caper bush. Modern 

 Greek, rimoniaria. Arabic, lasaf. 



USES. The bark of the roots sometimes is used for treating diseases. The ancients 

 considered it to be a powerful diuretic. It's an ingredient in several medications. The 

 leaves are antiscorbutic. 



