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VIII. CAPPARJDACEiE 
VIII. CAPPARIDACE./E 
Herbs or shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple or digitately com- 
pound. Flowers regular, 2-sexual, solitary or racemed. Sepals 4,. 
free. Petals 4, imbricate. Stamens numerous, free. Ovary 
sessile or stalked, 1-celled, ovules many. Capsule linear or ovoid. 
Seeds small, in 2 or more perpendicular rows. — Chiefly tropical 
regions. 
Leaves digitately compound. Ovary sessile . . . .1. Polanisia.. 
Leaves orbicular. Ovary stalked 2. Capparis. 
1. POLANISIA. From the Greek polus, many, and anisos, un- 
equal ; anthers numerous but variable in numbers, some of the 
stamens being imperfect. — Most tropical and subtropical regions. 
Polanisia viscosa, DC . ; FI. Br. Ind. i. 170, under Cleome 
viscosa. An annual, viscidly pubescent herb. Stems 1-3 ft., erect. 
Leaves digitately compound ; leaflets 3-5, unequal, the largest 
about 1 in., nearly sessile, ovate, entire. Flowers racemed, long- 
stalked, yellow, \ in. long. Sepals 4, lanceolate. Petals 4 r 
clawed, limb ovate, reflexed. Stamens 12-20, some without anthers. 
Ovary sessile ; style short. Capsule linear, 2-3 in., glandular. 
Seeds wrinkled. 
Simla, waste ground, rubbish heaps ; June-September. — Throughout India,, 
ascending to 5000 ft. — A common tropical weed. 
2. CAPPARIS. From kabar, the Arabic name of a species of 
the genus. — Most warm regions. 
Capparis leucophylla, DC . ; FI. Br. Ind. i. 173, under C. spinosa. 
A trailing, long-branched shrub, more or less covered with white 
pubescence. Leaves pale green, orbicular, about 1 in. across ; a 
pair of recurved prickles (stipules) at the base of the short stalk. 
Flowers globose in bud, solitary, axillary, about 1 in. diam. 
Sepals 4, green, concave. Petals 4, obovate, not clawed, white at 
first, turning pink as they fade. Stamens numerous, filaments 
purple, longer than the petals. Ovary stalked, overtopping the 
stamens ; stigma sessile. Capsule ovoid, nearly 1 in., bent down- 
wards, 6-ribbed, opening irregularly, valves crimson inside. Seeds 
embedded in pulp. 
Sutlej valley below 5000 ft., usually growing on hot dry rocks; June- 
October. — Lower Himalaya. — Persia. . 
Closely allied to C. spinosa , a shrub of S. Europe, the pickled flower-buds 
of which are known as Capers. The flower-buds and unripe fruit of C. aphylla, a 
leafless shrub common on the Punjab plains, are also eaten. Native name JcariL 
