CAPER FAMILY. Capparidaceae. 
lower leaves large and jagged, cut into leaflets, the upper 
leaves mostly toothless. The fragrant flowers form long 
clusters, each flower about three-quarters of an inch across; 
the small, cylindrical pods stand erect, close to the branch- 
ing stem. A valuable, antiseptic oil is made from the 
black, pungent seeds, exported from California by the ton. 
CAPER FAMILY. Capparidaceae. 
The flowers of this family are much like the Mustards, 
but the stamens are all of equal length and are often more 
than six; the leaves are alternate and consist of three or 
several leaflets, with stalks, and the plant usually tastes 
bitter and disagreeable instead of pungent. There is no 
partition in the pods, which are on long, threadlike stalks; 
the ovary is superior and the seeds are kidney-shaped. 
Many flowers have only a rudimentary pistil and never 
produce fruit. The Caper, of which we eat the pickled 
flower-buds for a relish, is a shrub which grows in the 
Levant. The family is quite large and flourishes in warm 
regions. 
There are several kinds of Cleomella, resembling Cle- 
ome, except that the pods are different. 
This is a handsome, rather odd-looking 
Cleomella : : 
Cleomélla léngipes Plant, with a stout, smooth, yellowish 
Yellow or purplish stem, sometimes branching 
Spring and over a foot tall. The leaves are 
Nev., Cal.,Oreg. bricht light-green, smooth, toothless and 
slightly thickish, and the three leaflets are sometimes each 
tipped with a hair, and have a tuft of small hairs at the 
base of the leaf-stalk, in place of a stipule. The flowers 
are about half an inch across, and are a beautiful warm 
shade of golden-yellow, the long stamens being of the same 
color and giving a very pretty feathery appearance to the 
large cluster. The pods are queer-looking little things and 
stick straight out from the stem. This has a slightly un- 
pleasant smell, but looks very gay and pretty in the fields 
and along the edges of the mesas around Reno. 
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