



36 THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
CHAPTER XI. 
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CAPPARIDEA Juss. 
Essentiat Cuaracter.—Parts of flower usually imbricate in the | glands. Stipe of ovary slender, rising from the torus; the ovary is, 
bud. Sepals four, seldom more, sometimes almost free, equal or un- | therefore, stipitate. Ovary composed of two or more closely-joined 
equal, sometimes connected at the base into a tube with a variable | carpels. Style none or filiform. Fruit variable, siliquose, or baccate, 
limb. Petals four, seldom more, cruciate, usually unguiculated and | one-celled, but rarely one-seeded, usually with two or more many- 
unequal. Stamens almost perigynous, inserted at the bottom of the | seeded placentas; in the dehiscent fruit these are intervalvular. Seeds 
calyx, rarely tetradynamous, usually disposed in a quaternary order, | usually kidney-shaped, without albumen. Embryo incurved. Coty- 
definite or indefinite. Torus hemispherical or elongated, usually bearing | ledons leafy, flat, somewhat incumbent. (@ Don.) 
Descrietion, &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 Cuaracter.—Calyx four-parted. Petals four. Torus small. Stalk of the fruit slender. Stamens indefinite. Siliques somewhat 
baccate, stipitate. (G. 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. 
Eneravinc.—Bot. Mag., t. 291. 
Speciric CuaracTer.—Stipules spinose, hooked. Leaves ovate, roundish, deciduous. Pedicels solitary, one-flowered. (@. 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, growing 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 greenhouse plant, but it has been known to grow in the 
open air, and a plant of it stood for nearly a century 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, haying 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 flowers 
are red. 
2.—CAPPARIS ACUMINATA Lindl. THE TAPER-LEAVED CAPER. 
Eneravines.—-Bot. Reg., t. 1320; and our jig. 3, in Pl. 10. ovate, mucronately acuminated, rusty-tomentose on the under surface ; 
Sreciric Cuaracter.—Stipules spinose, hooked 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 







