Capparis L.
Genus composed of about 180 species (although currently there is a tendency to reduce the number of species by including many of them within the infraspecific variability of other well characterised species), distributed mainly through dry and even desert areas of Eurasia and North Africa. In North Africa there are 3 species. One of them, C. spinosa, has great variability, which lead to dozens of species, subspecies, varieties and forms being described over the last 2 centuries. Since the first revision of the genus in the Mediterranean and western Asia made by Zohary (1960), to the last by Fici (2014), there have been numerous attempts to clarify the complex group of C. spinosa and related “species”. Among them it is worth mentioning the work of Inocencio et al. (2006), and at a national level in North Africa, those from Morocco (Saifi et al. 2011), Tunisia (Saadaoui et al. 2011) and Egypt (Moubasher et al. 2011). In this project, following the same approach taken by other authors (e.g. Boulos in Flora of Egypt, 1999) and is maintained in The World Flora Online and POWO (2023), we have followed a simplified classification. In essence, we follow the recent proposal by Fici (2014).
Fici, S. 2014. A taxonomic revision of the Capparis spinosa group (Capparaceae) from the Mediterranean to Central Asia. Phytotaxa 174 (1): 1-24.
Fici, S. 2015. A taxonomic revision of the Capparis spinosa group (Capparaceae) from the eastern Africa to Oceania. Phytotaxa 203 (1): 24-36.
Inocencio, C., Rivera, D., Obón, C., Alcaraz, F. & Barreña, J.A. 2006. A Systematic Revision of Capparis Section Capparis (Capparaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 93(1): 122-149.
Moubasher, H., Abd El-Ghani, M.M., Kame, W., Mansi, M. & El-Bous, M. 2011. Taxonomic considerations among and within some Egyptian taxa of Capparis and related genera (Capparaceae) as revealed by RAPD fingerprinting. Collectanea Botanica Vol. 30: 29-35.
Saadaoui, E., Guetat, A., Tlili, N., El Gazzah, M. & Khaldi, A. 2011. Subspecific variability of Tunisian wild populations of Capparis spinosa L. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 5(17): 4339-4348.
Saifi, N., Ibijbijen, J., & Echchghadda, G. 2011. Genetic diversity of Caper plant (Capparis sp.) from Morocco. J. Food Agric. Environ. 9, 299–304.
Zohary, M. 1960. The species of Capparis in the mediterranean and the Near Eastern Countries. Bull. Res. Council of Israel 8D(2): 49-64.
Key to species
1 Small tree or shrub, with defoliated appearance because of having few leaves, small (0.5-2 cm) and promptly deciduous, oblong, subsessile. Flowers in racemes, umbels or corymbs, with 5-18 stamens. Fruit globose, red Capparis decidua
1 Shrub or subshrub, with ± dense foliage. Leaves large (2-8 cm), suborbicular, petiolate. Flowers solitary, usually with numerous stamens (>50). Fruit from pyriform to ellipsoid, green, reddish or blackish 2
2 Shrub with robust branches, leaves large (3-8 cm) and fleshy. Flowers very zygomorphic, lower sepal markedly galeate Capparis cartilaginea
2 Subshrub upright or decumbent, with leaves fleshy or not fleshy. Flowers slightly zygomorphic, lower sepal slightly or not galeate Capparis spinosa
Updated by: J. Charco.