CAPPARIDACEAB 215 



1. CAPPARIS Linnaeus 



Erect or climbing shrubs or small trees, armed with short, sharp, re- 

 flexed, stipular . spines. Leaves simple, entire. Inflorescence various, the 

 flowers axillary, solitary, fascicled, umbellate, or arranged in vertical lines 

 along the branches, or racemose, or paniculate. Sepals 4, in 2 series. Petals 

 4, imbricate, white or colored. Stamens many, inserted at the base of the 

 long, slender gynophore. Ovary long-stalked. Fruit globose to ovoid, fleshy, 

 indeshiscent. Seeds many, imbedded in the pulp of the fruit. (The Latin 

 name for the caper.) 



Species 120 or more in most warm and tropical countries, about 15 in 

 the Philippines. 



I. Flowers in axillary umbels; leaves small; spiny vines 1. C. sepiaria 



1. Flowers in vertical lines along the branches. 



2. Glabrous; erect or suberect. 2. C. mieracantha 



2. Younger parts brown-tomentose; climbing. 3. C. horrida 



1. Flowers large, solitary, long-pedicelled; an erect, unarmed shrub. 



4. C. cordifolia 



1. C. sepiaria L. 



A woody vine 1.5 to 3 m high, the young branches pubescent, .opines 

 short, sharp, recurved. Leaves oblong-ovate to elliptic-ovate, 2 to 8 cm 

 long, retuse. Flowers in 5- to 16-flowered, axillary and terminal, sessile or 

 short-peduncled umbels, the pedicels slender, 1 to 1.5 cm long. Sepals green, 

 concave. Petals oblong, white, ciliate, 7 to 8 mm long. Fruit globose, 8 to 

 10 mm in diameter, nearly black when mature, 1-seeded. (Fl. Filip. pi. 209.) 



In dry; thickets Pasay to Pasig, etc., fl. Mar .-May; widely distributed in 

 the Philippines. India to southern China and the Philippines. 



2. C. mieracantha DC. Halobagat (Tag.). 



A glabrous suberect shrub with drooping branches, or scandent, 2 to 4 m 

 high, the stipular thorns short, sharp, nearly straight. Leaves oblong or 

 oblong-elliptic, 8 to 17 cm long, leathery, shining, obtuse, apiculate, base 

 rounded. Flowers in vertical lines along the branches above the leaf -axils, 

 shortly pedicelled, 2 to 6 in a series, the uppermost one of each series opening 

 first. Sepals pale-green. Petals oblong or elliptic; about 1 cm long, white, 

 or the lower ones yellowish or reddish. Stamens white, much exceeding the 

 petals. Fruits ovoid or globose, about 5 cm in diameter. (Fl. Filip. pi. 180, 

 C. callosa.) 



In thickets, occasional, fl. Nov.-Feb.; common and widely distributted in 

 the Philippines. India to Malaya. 



3. C. horrida L. Dauag (Tag.). 



A climbing spiny shrub reaching a height of 3 m or more, the young 

 leaves and branches pubescent. Spines short, sharp, recurved, in pairs 

 subtending each leaf or branch. Leaves oblong to oblong-ovate, acuminate, 

 9 to 15 cm long, soon becoming leathery and glabrous or nearly so. Flowers, 

 seriately arranged in vertical lines above the axils, usually 3 to each axil, 

 the pedicels 1 to 2 cm long. Sepals green, concave, about 1 cm long. Petals 

 pink, soon turning purplish, pubescent inside, 1.5 to 1.8 cm long narrowly 

 obovate-oblong to oblong. Stamens pink, soon turning dark-purple, about 

 3.5 cm long. Fruit subglobose to ellipsoid, 2 to 3 cm in diameter, fleshy. 

 (Fl. Filip. pi. 178, C. mieracantha.) 



In thickets, Pasay, etc., fl. Jan.-Mar,; widely distributed in the Philip- 

 pines. India to Malaya. 



