2 3* 



CAPPARIDACEAK 



Cadaba juncea. This shrub is widely spread from the south coast 



(Zwartkops) northwards right into Tropical Africa. Onlv the \erv \oung 

 twigs bear a few narrow leaves, the adult branches being leafless. The shrub 

 is a scrambler, reaching a considerable height, viz. 10 feet or more, by 

 insinuating itself between other shrubs and using them as a support; without 

 such aid it is only a couple of feet high and then mostly eaten down into 

 a compact mass by goats and sheep, which nibble off all the thinner branches. 

 The flowers produce an abundant supply of nectar, which attracts bees as well 

 as sun birds (see Plate 65). The fruit is a kind of pulpy capsule, the pulp 

 being rather dry but rich in oil. The ovary and later on the capsule are 

 thickly studded with stalked glands that secrete a sticky film of varnish. 

 This probably serves as a means of distribution for the seed-vessels, which 

 thereby adhere to the bodies of birds when they attempt to eat the oily pulp. 

 Called by the colonists " zwart storm." 



In Great Namaqualand a variety with yellow flowers and bare fruits 

 occurs {Cadaba juncea , var. nnda Marl.). 



Fig. 106. Boscia foetida Schinz 1. Twig. 1/1. 2. Diagrammatic long, section of 

 flower. 3. Transverse section through leaf. 150/1. (After Pestalozzi) 



The leaves of several genera, e.g. Capparis and Boscia, often contain 

 numerous, simple or branched, sclerotic cells. Usually they extend from the 

 epidermis to the centre of the mesophyll (green tissue), thus forming an 

 elaborate frame work, which prevents the collapsing of the leaf in times of 

 extreme dryness of the air. The leaves of Boscia foetida (big. 106) are isolateral 

 in structure, probably on account of their more or less vertical position, and 

 the sclerotic cells occur on both sides, but most other species have bifacial 

 leaves, with the stomata only on the lower side and the sclerotic cells mostly 

 attached to the upper epidermis. 



