N A T. O R D E R. 
CapparideoB. 
CAPPARIS SPINOSA. COMMON CAPER-BUSH. 
Class XIIl. PoLYANDRiA. Order I. Monogynia. 
Gen. Char. Calyx, four-leaved, coriaceous. Petals four. Stamem 
long. Berry corticose, one-celled, pedicelled. 
8pe. Char. Peduncles one-flowered, solitary. Stipules spiny. 
Leaves, annual. Capsules, oval. 
The root of this shrub is woody and crooked ; the stem is trail- 
ing, round, and smooth ; the branches are alternate, spreading, often 
downy, leafy, and many-flowered ; the leaves are alternate, spread- 
ing, oval, or roundish, and stand on short footstalks, in the wild 
plant often terminated by a little sharp point, which disappears by 
culture, entire, veiny, succulent, bright green, deciduous ; Stipulce 
none ; but in their place are two spines at the base of the footstalks 
which are acute, somewhat recurved, yellowish, and nearly obliter- 
ated in the cultivated plant ; the ^ower^ are numerous, axillary, sol- 
itary, placed on short footstalks, without bracteas, large, handsome 
and inodorous ; the flower-stalks are round and longer than the leaves ; 
the calyx consists of four unequal concave leaves, tipped with pur- 
ple ; the petals are much larger than the calyx, spreading, obovate, 
waved, white, and sometimes are found with a faint tincture of red ; 
the stamens are very numerous, the length of the petals, spreading, 
slender in the upper part, and of a pale purple hke the anthers ; the 
germen is oval, small, green, and stands on a round purplish footstalk, 
which is longer than the stamens ; the stigma is small and blunt ; the 
capsule is oblong, oval, and coriaceous. It is a native of the south 
of France, Italy, and the Levant. 
