Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Red-fruited caper-bush

(Capparis erythrocarpos)

galery
en

Description

Capparis (synonyms: Atamisquea) is a flowering plant genus, comprising around 250 species in the family Capparaceae which is included in the Brassicaceae in the unrevised APG II system. These plants are shrubs or lianas and are collectively known as caper shrubs or caperbushes. Capparis species occur over a wide range of habitat in the subtropical and tropical zones. The leaves are simple,entire and rarely reduced. Flowers are bisexual, bracteates, axillary or supra-axillary, solitary or in rows, in racemes or umbels. Sepals and petals are 4 in number and are free. Stamens are many, ovary on a gynophore, 1-celled. Fruit is a berry, globose or ellipsoid. C. zeylanica L. is a climbing or straggling shrub with tomentose branches. Branches are armed with recurved stipular spines. It grows naturally along the hedges. Leaves are ovate-elliptic. Flowers are 35– 50 mm across, white, fading to pink or purple, in supra-axillary rows of 2-6 flowers, often developing before leaves. Caperbushes are mainly used by humans for their fruit, which are rich in micronutrients. C. spinosa, simply known as caper, yields fruit and more importantly flower buds, which are widely used pickled as a vegetable condiment. The fruit of other species, such as karir (C. decidua), are also used for cooking; C. mitchellii and the Wild passionfruit (the local subspecies of C. spinosa) are well-known bush tucker in Australia. Mabinlang seeds (C. masaikai) are eaten as sweets. Mabinlang is also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Aspalathos, the root of a shrub contained for example in the sacred Ancient Egyptian incense, is sometimes considered to be C. spinosa. Other species have also recorded uses in herbalism and folk medicine; dedicated research is largely lacking however. Mabinlins are sweet-tasting proteins found in Mabinlang seed (and possibly in other Capparis species); at least one of them is highly resistant to heat. The market for mabinlins is not large, but this is mainly due to insufficient supply rather than to lack of demand."

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Brassicales
Family:Capparaceae
Genus:Capparis
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