Capparis flexuosa (L.) L.
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Authority
Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.
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Family
Capparaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - A glabrous shrub, or a tree up to 8 m. high, with a trunk 2 dm. in diameter, the bark brown, the branches slender, sometimes vine-like. Leaves elliptic to oblong, lanceolate to linear, coriaceous, 4-9 cm. long, obtuse, emarginate or sometimes acute at the apex, obtuse or narrowed at the base, reticulate-veined on both sides, the rather stout petioles 2-6 mm. broad, with a small sessile, oblong or subglobose gland in the axil; corymbs few-flowered; pedicels stout, 12 mm. long or less; flowers fragrant; sepals suborbicular, 5-8 mm. broad, slightly united at the base, the outer a little smaller than the inner; petals white to rose, obovate, 1.5-2 cm. long; stamens numerous, about 3 times as long as the petals, the filaments white; fruit long-linear, 6-20 cm. long, 1-1.5 cm. thick, more or less torulose, about twice as long as the slender gynophore, tardily opening longitudinally, its pulp scarlet.
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Distribution
Scrub-lands and thickets, Andros, Exuma Chain, Long and Acklin's Island : Florida ; Cuba to Virgin Gorda and Barbadoes ; continental tropical America. Caper - Tree.
South Andros Bahamas South America| Acklins Bahamas South America| Florida United States of America North America| Cuba South America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Barbados South America|