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26, CAPPARIDACEAE
1. Capparis horrida Linn.f., Sur/pl. Plant. 264. 1781. (Fig. 104).
Capparis zeylanica Roxb.—Capparis formosa Wall.—Capparis acuminata Willd.—Capparis
tenuiflora DC—Capparis quadrifiora DC.—Capparis erythrodasys Miq.—Capparis aurantioides
Presl.—Capparis nemerosa Blanco—Capparis micrantha Blanco—Capparis linearis Blanco—
Capparis viminea F.—Vill.
Sink. Welangiriya; Sans. Hinsra.
A climbing shrub with long, divaricate branches, young shoots covered with rufous,
scurfy tomentum; leaves simple,alternate, oval-lanceolate or oblong, 4.2—4.5 cm long,
2—2.4 cm broad, acuminate or strongly apiculate, obtuse, rounded at base, tomentose when
young, afterwards glabrous and shining, petioles 0.4—0.5 cm long with a pair of recurved,
stipular spines at the base; flowers large, bisexual, 3.7 cm diameter, supra-axillary, solitary
or 2 or 3 together above one another in a vertical line, pedicels 1.2—1.8S cm long and tomentose;
sepals 4, free, biseriate, nearly equal, concave, rufous, tomentose outside; petals 4, twice as long
as sepals, imbricate, white and hairy; stamens numerous, crimson, much longer than petals,
inserted at the base of a long gynophore; gynophore about 2.5 cm long; ovary superior, ovoid,
apiculate, unilocular with 4 parietal placentas, ovules numerous; fruit subglobose, 3.2 cm
diameter on a thickened stalk, in dehiscent, many seeded, seeds embedded in a pulp.
Flowers during March and April.
Illustrations. Wight, Ic. PI. Ind. Orient. 1: pIMZ. 1839; Herb. Peradeniya., drawing.
Distribution. Distributed through the Indian Peninsula, Ceylon, Malaya, Indo-China
and in the Philippine Islands. In Ceylon, it is rather rare and found in the dry, low country:
Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Uma Oya, Hanguranketa, etc.
India. Nepal, Wallich 6990B; Siwalik and Jaunsar, Khosla 7, April 1921. Malabar,
Concan, etc. Stocks, Law, etc. Maisor and Carnatic. G. Thomson. Ind. Orient. Herb. Wight; Wallich
92. Ceylon. ThwqitesC.P. 1058; Northern Prov., Elephant Pass, Herb. Peradeniya., March 1912.
North Central Prov., Anuradhapura, Herb. Peradeniya., March 1883. Eastern Prov., Uma Oya,
Herb. Peradeniya., April 1883. Ruhuna National Park, Walaskema, Mueller—Dumbois, Comanor