Caper and Caperberries

SOZZI GO, VICENTE AR

Handbook of Herbs and Spices, Volume 3

CRC Press

Año: 2006; p. 230 - 256

The caper bush (Capparis spinosa L., Capparidaceae) is a winter-deciduous species widespread in Mediterranean Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Its young flower buds, known as capers, are greatly favoured for food seasoning and different parts of the plant are used in the manufacture of medicines and cosmetics (Sozzi, 2001; Rivera et al., 2003). This drought-tolerant perennial plant has favourable influence on the environment and it is utilized for landscaping and reducing erosion along highways, steep rocky slopes, sand dunes or fragile semiarid ecosystems (Lozano Puche, 1977). The caper plant has low flammability and may play a role in cutting down forest fires (Neyiºçi, 1987). It favours rural economies in marginal lands in many circum-Mediterranean countries and neighbouring regions: Turkey, Morocco, southeastern Spain, Italy (especially the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria, the Aeolian island of Salina, and Sicily), Tunisia, France (Provence), Greece, Algeria, Egypt, Asia Minor, Cyprus and the Levant. Whether indigenous to this region or not is still unknown (Zohary, 1960). Considerable genetic variation for the caper bush and its relatives exists, mainly in dry regions in west or central Asia. The genus Capparis could be of a subtropical or tropical origin and only naturalized in the Mediterranean basin (Pugnaire, 1989).