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  1. Family: Capparaceae Juss.

    1. Capparis Tourn. ex L.

        2. This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropical & Subtropical Old World to Mongolia.

    [FZ]

    Capparidaceae, H. Wild. Flora Zambesiaca 1:1. 1960

    Habit
    Shrubs or small trees; branches often sarmentose, sometimes climbing.
    Stipules
    Stipules often transformed into spines.
    Leaves
    Leaves simple and entire.
    Inflorescences
    Inflorescences of terminal or axillary racemes sometimes condensed into corymbs or umbels, or occasionally of single flowers.
    Calyx
    Sepals 4, free or very nearly so, the two outer often overlapping the two inner, equal, or the two inner exceeding the outer.
    Corolla
    Petals usually 4, exceeding, equalling or much smaller than the calyx-segments.
    Stamens
    Stamens 6–?, free, inserted on a very short androgynophore.
    Pistil
    Ovary with a gynophore, with 1-several loculi and with 2-several placentas; stigma sessile or subsessile.
    Fruits
    Fruit globose, ovoid or elongated, usually indehiscent.
    Seeds
    Seeds 1–?, embedded in a fleshy pulp, embryo convolute.
    [FTEA]

    Capparidaceae, J. Elffers, R. A. Graham And G. P. Dewolf. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1964

    Habit
    Shrubs with flexuous or clambering branches
    Leaves
    Leaves simple, usually with a pair of generally recurved stipular thorns
    Flowers
    Flowers solitary in the leaf-axils or in terminal or lateral variously developed often corymbose racemes
    Calyx
    Sepals 4, free or nearly so, often unequal, imbricate
    Corolla
    Petals 4, always present
    Stamens
    Androphore absent; stamens 5–40 or more
    Ovary
    Ovary globose or cylindrical, 1–several-locular; placentas 2–several
    Fruits
    Fruit a berry, globose, irregular or ellipsoid with longitudinal grooves.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Afghanistan, Albania, Aldabra, Algeria, Andaman Is., Angola, Assam, Baleares, Bangladesh, Benin, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Caroline Is., Central African Repu, Chad, China South-Central, China Southeast, Comoros, Congo, Cook Is., Corse, Cyprus, Djibouti, East Aegean Is., East Himalaya, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Gulf States, Hainan, Hawaii, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jawa, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kirgizstan, Kriti, Krym, Kuwait, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Lebanon-Syria, Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Mali, Maluku, Marianas, Marshall Is., Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New South Wales, Nicobar Is., Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Is., Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Pitcairn Is., Portugal, Queensland, Rwanda, Samoa, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sicilia, Sierra Leone, Sinai, Society Is., Socotra, Solomon Is., Somalia, South Australia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Swaziland, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Transcaucasus, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Victoria, Vietnam, Wallis-Futuna Is., West Himalaya, Western Australia, Western Sahara, Xinjiang, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Introduced into:

    Canary Is., Trinidad-Tobago

    Capparis Tourn. ex L. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Greenway, P.J. [6205], Zimbabwe 9008.000
    Rico, L. [1973], Dominican Republic K000478746
    Coode, M.J.E. [5302], Philippines 51100.000
    McCloune, J. [174] K000230720
    Wallich, N. [Cat. no. s.n.] K001132282
    Wallich, N. [Cat. no. s.n.] K001132283
    s.coll. [Cat. no. s.n.], Myanmar K001132715

    First published in Sp. Pl.: 503 (1753)

    Accepted by

    • Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.

    Literature

    Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • Gilg & Benedict in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 53: 184 (1915).
    • —F.T.A. 1: 94
    Flora Zambesiaca
    • Gen. Pl. ed. 5: 222 (1754).
    • Sp. Pl. 1: 503 (1753)
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • Pax & K. Hoffm. in E. & P.Pf., ed. 2, 17B: 172 (1936)
    • L., Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 222 (1754)
    • Sp. Pl.: 503 (1753)

    Sources

    Art and Illustrations in Digifolia
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    Interactive Key to Seed Plants of Malesia and Indo-China
    The Malesian Key Group (2010) Interactive Key to Seed Plants of Malesia and Indo-China (Version 2.0, 28 Jul 2010) The Nationaal Herbarium Nederland Leiden and The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0