Capparis sepiaria

Capparis sepiaria L.

Common names

Hedge caper bush (English); kalongo (Bemba/Kunda); mgezingono (Nyanja)

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A thorny, much branched and straggly shrub, usually 2-3 m high in the valley, Capparis sepiaria is most distinctive when it produces its sweetly scented flowers at the end of the dry season. Bark green, becoming brown when older, with pairs of hooked thorns. Leaves simple, alternate or spirally arranged. Leaf typically 1.2-5 x 0.4-2.8 cm, leathery, mid-green, lanceolate, oblong elliptic or elliptic. The leaves are ± hairy. Petiole up to 5 mm long. Flowers sweetly scented, white or cream with a conspicuous mass of white stamens which are tinged with pink (filaments up to 2 cm long). Produced singly in the axils of the leaves or in groups of 4-6 in terminal heads (October-November). Fruit ovoid, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, ripening orange, and finally purplish-black (April-May).

Capparis sepiaria is easily confused with Capparis tomentosa. The main differences between the two species are as follows:

C. sepiaria: usually a shrub; leaves green, ± hairy; stamen filaments up to 2 cm long; fruit 1-1.5 cm in diameter.

C. tomentosa: usually a climber; leaves grey-green, densely hairy; filaments up to 4 cm long; fruit up to 5 cm in diameter.

Range and habitat

Capparis sepiaria occurs in Angola, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique. In the valley it is found in valley riverine woodland, thicket and mopane woodland on clay soils. Riverside Drive in Nsefu sector is a good place to see this species.