Flowers in Israel: Egyptian caper

Capparis aegyptia, Capparis deserti, Capparis sinaica, Egyptian caper,

Hebrew: צלף מצרי, Arabic: قبار

Scientific name:   Capparis aegyptia Lam.
Synonym name:   Capparis deserti (Zohary) Täckh. & Boulos, Capparis sinaica Veill
Common name:   Egyptian caper
Hebrew name:   צלף מצרי
Arabic name:   قبار
Plant Family:   Capparaceae, Caper family, צלפיים


Life form:   Shrub
Spinescence:   Stipules
Stems:   Evergreen, spiny, trailing, deciduous shrub growing up to 1-2 m in height
Leaves:   Glaucous or blue leaves, alternate, one leaf per node
Flowers:   White
Fruits / pods:   Narrow-ovate fruits
Flowering Period:   January, February, March, April, May, June, July
Habitat:   Heavy soils
Distribution:   Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Irano-Turanian – Saharo-Arabian
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Capparis (latin), borrowed from Greek kapparis [κάππαρις], whose origin is unknown but probably West or Central Asia (Alkabara, kabar). Another theory links kapparis to the name of the island Cyprus (Kypros [Κύπρος]), where capers grow abundantly. Arabic kafara, to be hairy, villous.

aegyptia, Egyptian.
The Hebrew name: צלף, tzalaf, zalaph, which in the Bible is a proper name (Nehemia 3:30). The caper’s fruit, the evyonah, is mentioned in Ecclesiastes 12:5 as a symbol of shortness of man’s life, because very soon after it blossoms, the fruit scatters its seeds and the plant withers; “The almond-tree shall blossom… and the caperberry shall fail; Because man goeth to his long home….”

  • The standard author abbreviation Lam. is used to indicate Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829), a French botanist.