CAPPARIS SPINOSA- THE COMMON CAPER. 
CAPPARIS RUPESTRIS.— ROCK CAPER. 
Class XIII. 
Natural Order, 
POLYANDRIA. Order I. 
CAPPARIDE M . — T H E 
MONOGYNIA. 
CAPER TRIBE. 
Sepals 4, either nearly distinct, equal, or unequal, or cohering in a tube, the limb of which is variable in 
form. Petals 4, cruciate, usually unguiculate and unequal. Stame7is almost perigynous, very seldom tetra- 
dynamous, most frequently arranged in some high multiple of a quaternary number, definite or indefinite. 
Disk hemispherical, or elongated, often bearing glands. Ovarium stalked ; style none, or filiform. Fruit 
either pod-shaped and dehiscent, or baccate, 1 celled, very rarely 1 seeded, most frequently with 2 polysper- 
mous placenta. Seeds, generally reniform, without albumen, but with the lining of the testa tumid, attached 
to the margin of the valves ; embryo incurved ; cotyledons foliaceous, flattish. Herbaceous plants shrubs or 
even trees, without true stipula, but sometimes with spines in their place. Leaves alternate, stalked, un- 
divided, or palmate. Flowers in no particular arrangement. 
Capparis Rupestris, unarmed; leaves roundish, fleshy, deciduous ; pedicles 1 flowered, solitary, longer 
than the leaves. Native of Crete and Mycon on rocks by the sea side. Flowers large, with white petals 
and red stamens. 
Capparis Spinosa, stipulas spinose, hooked ; leaves ovate roundish, deciduous ; pedicles solitary, 1 
flowered. Native of southern and eastern Europe on walls and rocks. In the Grecian islands on rocks by 
the sea side. There is a variety with abortive stipulas and ovate leaves, which are more or less hoary. 
Flowers white, tinged with red on the outside ; filaments red. The flower bud of this plant is the well 
known pickle the Caper. 
The chief supply of caper buds is from Sicily, but the plant is cultivated in the neighbourhood of Tou- 
lon in orchards, in the intervals between fig and olive trees, and in the neighbourhood of Paris, where it is 
trained on low walls, and the shoots during the winter laid down and covered with earth, to protect them 
from the frost. The plant is cultivated on a large scale between Marseilles and Toulon, and in many parts 
of Italy. The plant is raised from suckers or cuttings, which are planted about 10 feet distance from each 
other. They require shelter from severe winds, and favourable exposure to the sun, and scarcely ever suffer 
from drought or heat. In spring they need only one dressing ; in autumn they are cut down to within six 
inches of the ground, and covered with the surrounding earth, which is raised about them on all sides. In 
the succeeding spring they are laid bare to the crown of the stump, and they soon throw out fresh shoots. 
In the early part of the summer they begin to flower, and a succession of them continues till they are des- 
troyed by the cold of the advancing winter. In this country it is generally treated as a frame plant, though 
it has stood the winter in the open air in some situations. A plant stood near a century against the wall of 
the garden of Camden House, Kensington; it produced many flowers annually, though the young shoots were 
frequently killed to the stump during winter. As a pickle, the flower buds of the caper are in great esteem 
throughout Europe. In Italy the fruit is prepared in the same way as the flower buds; both are bitterish, 
acrid, and aromatic to the taste. In the Isles of the Mediterranean, and near Toulon, the flower buds of the 
caper are gathered while very young, for as they enlarge they decrease in value ; this forms a daily occupa- 
tion for six months, while the plants are in a flowering state. As the buds are gathered they are thrown 
into a cask among as much salt and vinegar as is sufficient to cover them, and as the quantity of capers is 
increased more vinegar is added. When the caper season closes, the buds are then sorted according to their 
