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Capparaceae family

Caper Capparis baducca

Native

Caper is a perennial tree native to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It grows to 7 ft, with purple fruit. A keystone plant for native insects and the food web.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY

Conditions

Sources · Conditions

USDA — Temp-Min °F — Hardiness

Hardiness: USDA zone 11+

Size & form

Sources · Size & form

USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Height, Mature — Height

USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Planting Density (per acre) — Spacing

USDA PLANTS — Lifespan

TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Foliage

USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Fruit/Seed Color / Fruit Persistence — Fruit

Height: 7 ft
Spacing: 8–12 ft apart from USDA planting density
Lifespan: Perennial
Foliage: Evergreen broadleaf
Fruit: Purple

In the garden

Sources · In the garden

USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Propagation Method / Commercial Availability — Propagate by

USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Germination (cold stratification) — Seed starting

USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Foliage Texture / Browse Palatability / Resprout — Resprouts if cut

Propagate by: Seed
Seed starting: No stratification needed
Resprouts if cut: No

Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →

derived roles

When to sow · for your area

Sow timing keys off your local last- and first-frost dates.

Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →

❧ Caterpillar hosts Documented caterpillar host

Recorded feeding on Capparis in North America, including:

Alatuncusia bergii · Berg's Alatuncusia Moth Appias drusilla · white / sulphur butterfly

Dichogama amabilis · snout moth

Dichogama redtenbacheri · snout moth

Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).

Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.

How we know this (2) Methods & honest limits

Leaf build Direct fact

We read each species’ measured specific leaf area (leaf area per unit dry weight) from the Global Spectrum dataset and band it: thin & fast (high SLA), medium, or thick & tough (low SLA). The global median is about 10 mm²/mg.

Honest limits: A species-mean from pooled measurements — individual plants vary with light and site. A broad strategy signal, not a precise per-plant figure.

Díaz, S. et al. (2022) The global spectrum of plant form and function: enhanced species-level trait dataset. Scientific Data 9:755.

Photosynthesis Direct fact

A recorded categorical fact: each species is tagged C3 (standard), C4 (heat/water-efficient) or CAM (succulent, night-time CO₂ uptake) — or a facultative combination. We only show a trait card for the noteworthy C4/CAM cases; C3 is the unremarkable majority, kept in the data but not surfaced as a card.

Kattge, J. et al. TRY plant trait database — Categorical Traits Dataset (2012).

Derived values are computed from open data by a published method — labelled, cited, and never shown as a direct observation. Full methodology →

Sources for this entry (19) Open & cited

[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)

[05] Height — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Height, Mature

[06] Cold hardiness (zone) — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Temperature, Minimum °F

[07] Landscape traits — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Foliage Texture / Browse Palatability / Resprout

[08] Propagation & availability — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Propagation Method / Commercial Availability

[09] Fruit — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Fruit/Seed Color / Fruit Persistence

[10] Seed germination — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Germination (cold stratification)

[11] Spacing — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — Planting Density (per acre)

[12] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status

[13] Photos — Wikimedia Commons — CC, credited per image

[14] Ecological value — GloBI

[15] Foliage — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[16] Functional traits — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[17] Photosynthetic pathway — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[18] Human uses — Dr. Duke's Phytochemical & Ethnobotanical Databases (USDA, CC0)

[19] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)

Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.

Cite this page Open data, please attribute

PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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Ecological value open data

4 / 5 Keystone

Keystone (host) value — caterpillar, specialist-bee & monarch hosting. A low number means “not a keystone host,” not “low value”: generalist flower-visitor value is shown separately below.

Caterpillar host 4

Deep dive

Caterpillar host · 4/5 — native butterfly & moth caterpillars that feed on this genus — the base of the food web (more caterpillars → more songbirds). Genus-level keystone count from Warren II 2026 (CC0; Tallamy host-use records), gap-filled by our GloBI derivation.

Counts are genus-level and banded 0–5. Full rubric →

Host / keystone value from open interaction data. How this is scored →

📍 In your area live

Native to the U.S.

Recorded in 2 states.

Native — Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands

Recorded in 2 states/territories

Conservation

Invasive? No

Toxicity & pet safety

Check the ASPCA pet database →

Educational, not veterinary advice. If you suspect your pet ate this plant, contact a vet or pet poison-control line.

Documented human uses Dr. Duke's

8 use-records

Historically recorded for

PoisonDiureticDropsyEmmenagogueSedativeSkinSpasm

A historical record of how this plant has been used — not medical or dietary advice, and not a claim that it is effective or safe. Many plants are toxic; never ingest or treat with a wild plant without expert guidance and a confirmed identification. Dr. Duke's →

Functional traits TRY · Dryad

Wood density low

0.48 g/cm³

light, fast wood — quick biomass for chop-and-drop mulch

Seed mass large

120 mg

large seed — easy to hand-collect & direct-sow; vigorous seedlings

Leaf nitrogen average

16.3 mg/g

leaf nitrogen — a rough guide to compost/mulch value

Leaf build thin & fast

Thin & fast

thin, low-cost leaves — a fast, light-hungry build built for quick growth (measured leaf area per weight 17.9 mm²/mg)

Leaf size medium

Medium

mid-sized leaves (measured leaf area ~38 cm²)

Deep dive — what these mean

Wood density 0.48 g/cm³ — how heavy the wood is for its size. Denser wood = hotter, longer-burning firewood and tougher poles; lighter wood rots fast (quick mulch).

Seed mass 120 mg — average weight of one seed. Bigger seeds are easier to hand-collect & direct-sow; dust-fine seeds need surface-sowing.

Leaf nitrogen 16.3 mg/g — measured leaf N. Higher = richer prunings for compost/mulch (a measured stand-in for "dynamic accumulator" claims).

Leaf build — how thick & tough the leaves are. Thin, lightweight leaves grow fast and crave light; thick, tough leaves last longer and shrug off shade, drought & grazing. (measured leaf area per dry weight, 17.9 mm²/mg)

Photosynthesis — the standard “C3” pathway most plants use, most active in cooler, moister, moderate-light conditions. (pathway C3)

Measured traits from TRY + Werner et al. (N-fix), Fan et al. (roots) & FungalRoot — general guidance, not species-specific prescriptions.

More modules coming

Caper Capparis baducca

Growing & care

Wildlife & pollinators

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