About Capparis spinosa subsp. cordifolia (Lam.) Fici
This is a description of Capparis spinosa subsp. cordifolia (Lam.) Fici, a many-branched shrubby plant. It bears thick, shiny alternate leaves that vary in shape from round to ovate. Its flowers are complete, sweetly fragrant, and showy, with four sepals, four white to pinkish-white petals, many long violet-colored stamens, and a single stigma that usually rises noticeably above the stamens. Capparis spinosa, the parent species of this subspecies, is distributed across the Mediterranean Basin, Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Western and Central Asia. In southern Europe, it occurs in southern Portugal; southern and eastern Spain, including the Balearic Islands; Mediterranean France including Corsica; Italy including Sicily and Sardinia; Malta; Croatia's Dalmatian islands; Albania; Greece and the Greek Islands; western and southern Turkey; Cyprus; and the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine. In Spain, it grows from sea level up to 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) in elevation. In northern Africa, it is found across northern Morocco and the Atlas Mountains, where it occurs from sea level up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in elevation. It also grows in northern Algeria (including Kabylie, coastal Algeria, Bouzaréa, and Oran) and the Hoggar Mountains of the Algerian Sahara, in Tunisia north of the Sahara, and in Cyrenaica, Libya. In western Asia, it occurs along the eastern Mediterranean in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Syria, western Jordan, and the southern Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is also found south of the Caucasus in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and northeastern Turkey. On the Arabian Peninsula it grows in Oman, Yemen including Socotra, and Asir province of Saudi Arabia. In central Asia, it inhabits the mountains of central Afghanistan, the lower Karakoram range in northern Pakistan and Ladakh, as well as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and eastern Uzbekistan. Capers from this plant are sometimes used in cosmetics.
