Capparis cartilagineaDecne.

WFO wfo-0000584571 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Capparis cartilaginea, photographed by Morten Ross
fig. a Morten Ross, CC BY 4.0 / 2015-02-03 / obs. 246860206
Capparis cartilaginea, photographed by Jean-Paul Boerekamps
fig. b Jean-Paul Boerekamps, CC0 1.0 / obs. 130960972
Capparis cartilaginea, photographed by Morten Ross
fig. c Morten Ross, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 246863150
Capparis cartilaginea, photographed by Jean-Paul Boerekamps
fig. d Jean-Paul Boerekamps, CC0 1.0 / obs. 130962261
Capparis cartilaginea, photographed by Morten Ross
fig. e Morten Ross, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178719732
Capparis cartilaginea, photographed by Morten Ross
fig. f Morten Ross, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178719818
Capparis cartilaginea, photographed by Denys Vynokurov
fig. g Denys Vynokurov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 108685772
Capparis cartilaginea, photographed by Denys Vynokurov
fig. h Denys Vynokurov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 108685778

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 26 botanical countries

Regions where Capparis cartilaginea is native: Aldabra, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Gulf States, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Yemen, India, Pakistan ChadDjiboutiEgyptEritreaEthiopiaKenyaLibyaMadagascarSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaAfghanistanGulf StatesIranIraqKuwaitOmanPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiYemenIndiaPakistan AldabraMauritius
Native distribution of Capparis cartilaginea, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Aldabra ALD AFRICA
Chad CHA
Djibouti DJI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
Libya LBY
Madagascar MDG
Mauritius MAU
Socotra SOC
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Gulf States GST
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kuwait KUW
Oman OMA
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Yemen YEM
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK

Not drawn on the map: Socotra. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 11 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Capparis antanossarum Baill.
  • Capparis exstipulata J.F.Gmel.
  • Capparis galeata Fresen.
  • Capparis galeata var. lanceolata Blatt.
  • Capparis galeata var. montana Schweinf.
  • Capparis inermis Forssk.
  • Capparis pyracantha Bojer
  • Capparis spinosa subsp. cartilaginea (Decne.) Maire & Weiller
  • Capparis spinosa var. galeata (Fresen.) Hook.f. & Thomson
  • Capparis spinosa var. pyracantha (Bojer) H.Perrier
  • Capparis uncinata Edgew.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.