36 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
CHAPTER XI. 
CAPPARIDEiE Juss. 
Essential Character. — Parts of flower usually imbricate in the 
bud. Sepals four, seldom more, sometimes almost free, equal or un- 
equal, sometimes connected at the base into a tube with a variable 
limb. Petals four, seldom more, cruciate, usually unguiculated and 
unequal. Stamens almost perigynous, inserted at the bottom of the 
calyx, rarely tetradynamous, usually disposed in a quaternary order, 
definite or indefinite. Torus hemispherical or elongated, usually bearing 
glands. Stipe of ovary slender, rising from the torus ; the ovary is, 
therefore, stipitate. Ovary composed of two or more closely-joined 
carpels. Style none or filiform. Fruit variable, siliquose, or baccate, 
one-celled, but rarely one-seeded, usually with two or more many- 
seeded placentas ; in the dehiscent fruit these are intervalvular. Seeds 
usually kidney-shaped, without albumen. Embryo incurved. Coty- 
ledons leafy, flat, somewhat incumbent. ((?. Don.') 
Description, &c. — The plants belonging to this order are characterised by the peculiarity of the seed-vessels 
growing from a long stalk in the centre of the flower. The flowers are all ornamental, and are remarkable for the 
number and length of their stamens, which are much more conspicuous than the petals. The only genus which 
contains greenhouse plants is the Caper. 
GENUS I. 
CAPPARIS Lin. THE CAPER. 
Lin. Syst. POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. — Calyx four-parted. Petals four. Tprus small. Stalk of the fruit slender, Stamens indefinite. Siliques somewhat 
baccate, stipitate. ((?. Don.) 
Description, &c. — The plants belonging to this genus are divided into four sections, the first of which contains 
all the greenhouse plants belonging to the genus which are common in Great Britain. 
1.— CAPPARIS SPINOSA Lin. THE COMMON CAPER. 
Engraving. — Bot. Mag., t. 291. 
Specific Character.— Stipules spinose, hooked. Leaves ovate, roundish, deciduous. Pedicels solitary, one-flowered. (Q. Don.) 
Description, &c. — This plant is well known from the use made of the flower-buds, which are pickled with 
salt and vinegar, and used for making sauce, as their taste, though slightly bitter and acrid, is aromatic. The plant 
is a low shrub, gromng wild on the south coast of France, and in Italy and Sicily on the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean. The flower-buds are gathered when quite young, and the shrub continues to produce them for six months 
in the year. In this country it is generally considered a gi’eenhouse plant, but it has been known to grow in the 
open air, and a plant of it stood for nearly a centmy against a wall in the garden of Camden House, Kensington, 
and which produced flowers annually. This plant was killed in the severe winter of 1838 — 9, and a portion of its 
root is now in my possession, having been given to my late husband by Miss Teed, the present occupier of that 
mansion. The petals of the flowers are white, but the filaments of the stamens and the footstalks of the flowem 
are red. 
2.— CAPPARIS ACUMINATA Lindl. THE TAPER-LEAVED CAPER. 
Engravings — Bot. Reg., t. 1320 ; and owv fig. 3, in PI. 10. | ovate, mucronately acuminated, rusty-tomentose on the under surface ; 
Specific Character. — Stipules spinose, booked at the top ; leaves | pedicels two to three together. (G. Don.) 
Description, &c. — This is a very ornamental species, but it is more tender than the other kinds. It is a 
native of China, whence it was introduced in 1820. The leaves are long and tapering at the point, and they are 
