Plants shrubs with scrambling or climbing branches. Leaves simple, alternate, often leathery, recurved stipular thorns often present. Inflorescences corymbose or subumbellate racems or flowers solitary and axillary. Sepals 4, imbricate, subequal, soon falling; petals 4, usually unequal;receptacles flattened or subconical; androphore not present; stamens usually many, exceeding the petals; gynophores mostly subequal to the stamens; ovaries glabrous, cylindircal or ellpisois, 1-several celled. Fruits 1-several-seeded berries; pericarps usually subcoriaceous, smooth, verruculose, or grooved; seeds reniform or ovoid, usually surrounded by a gelatinous pulp.
Capparis includes about 250 species. It is widespread in the topics of both the Old and New Worlds.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.
