CAI'NEA. [AcTussranYs] CAPPARIDA'CEsE, Capparids, the Caper Tribe, a natural order of Dicotyledonous Polypetalous Plante, having a superior fruit, parietal placentae, an embryo curved upon itself, without albumen, four petals and sepals, a great number of stamens, and an ovary elevated upon a long stalk. They are known from Crucifera by their indefinite ste mma and reniform seeds. All of them appear to be more or leas acrid. They are bushes or herbs found all over the tropics, and not extending in many places beyond them. Egypt and the south of Europe, which are inhabited by Capparis spinosa and similar species, offer the greatest exceptions to the rule.
Some of the American species of Capparidacea are very poisonous ; others act as vesicatories ; and a few are merely stimulant. To the latter class belongs the Capparis spinosa of the south of Europe. This plant grows naturally upon rocks and ruins all over the south of France and Italy, rendering them inconceivably gay with its large white blossoms, from the centre of each of which there springs a long tassel of deep lilac stamens. The flower-buds constitute the Capers of
the shops, the quality of which depends exclusively upon the age at which they are gathered, the smallest and youngest being the dearest and most delicate, and the largest and oldest the coarsest and cheapest. On an average each plant of the caper-bush gives a pound of buds. The consumption of capers in this country is inconsiderable, not amounting to more than about 60,000 lbs. a year.
Several other species of Capparis possess stimulating properties. There is a plant found in the neighbourhood of Carthagena called Fruta de Buno, supposed to be a Capparis, the fruit of which is extremely poisonous. The fruits of a species of Crete-va are eaten. Polanisia icosandra acts as a vesicatory. The root of Cleome dodecan dra is used as a vermifuge in the United States. The order has 28 genera and about 340 species.