The Capparaceae (or Capparidaceae), commonly known as the

caper ''Capparis spinosa'', the caper bush, also called Flinders rose, is a perennial plant that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. The plant is best known for the edible flower buds (capers), used as a seasoning ...

family, are a family of plants in the order

Brassicales The Brassicales (or Cruciales) are an order (biology), order of flowering plants, belonging to the eurosids II group of dicotyledons under the APG II system. One character common to many members of the order is the production of glucosinolate (mu ...

. As currently circumscribed, the family contains 33 genera and about 700 species. The largest genera are '' Capparis'' (about 150 species), '' Maerua'' (about 100 species), '' Boscia'' (37 species) and ''

Cadaba ''Cadaba'' is a genus of shrubs in family Capparaceae, with about 30 species. These have simple, alternately set leaves. The zygomorphic flowers, are solitary or stand in small clusters at the end of short side branches. These flowers consist of ...

'' (30 species).

Taxonomy

The Capparaceae have long been considered closely related to and have often been included in the

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The le ...

, the mustard family (APG, 1998), in part because both groups produce

glucosinolate Glucosinolates are natural components of many pungent plants such as mustard, cabbage, and horseradish. The pungency of those plants is due to mustard oils produced from glucosinolates when the plant material is chewed, cut, or otherwise damaged. T ...

(

mustard oil Mustard oil can mean either the pressed oil used for cooking, or a pungent essential oil also known as volatile oil of mustard. The essential oil results from grinding mustard seed, mixing the grounds with water, and extracting the resulting vol ...

) compounds. Subsequent molecular studies support Capparaceae'' sensu stricto'' as

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

with respect to the Brassicaceae. However ''

Cleome ''Cleome'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cleomaceae, commonly known as spider flowers, spider plants, spider weeds, or bee plants. Previously, it had been placed in the family Capparaceae, until DNA studies found the Cleomaceae ge ...

'' and several related genera are more closely related to members of the Brassicaceae than to the other Capparaceae. These genera are now either placed in the Brassicaceae (as subfamily Clemoideae) or segregated into the

Cleomaceae The Cleomaceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Brassicales, comprising about 300 species in 10 genera, or about 150 species in 17 genera.Cleomaceae, Zhang Mingli (张明理)1; Gordon C. Tucker2, Harvard.edu/ref> These genera ...

. Several more genera of the traditional Capparaceae are more closely related to other members of the Brassicales, and the relationships of several more remain unresolved. Based on morphological grounds and supported by molecular studies, the American species traditionally identified as ''Capparis'' have been transferred to resurrected

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

names. Several new genera have also been recently described.(Cornejo & Iltis 2006, 2008a-e; Iltis & Cornejo, 2007; Hall, 2008). Based on recent DNA-analysis, the Capparaceae are part of the core Brassicales, and based on limited testing, the following tree represent current insights in its relationship.

Genera

Excluded genera

*'' Borthwickia'' W.W.Sm. → Resedaceae *''

'' L. →

*'' Cleomella'' DC. → Cleomaceae *'' Dactylaena'' Schrad. ex Schult.f. → Cleomaceae *''

Forchhammeria ''Forchhammeria'' is a genus of plants in the order Brassicales. This genus has previously been placed in the Stixaceae (now obsolete) and Capparaceae, but under the APG IV system is now included in the family Resedaceae. Species can be found ...

'' Liebm. → Stixaceae *''

Haptocarpum ''Cleome'' is a genus (biology), genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Cleomaceae, commonly known as spider flowers, spider plants, spider weeds, or bee plants. Previously, it had been placed in the family Capparaceae, until ...

'' Ule → Cleomaceae *''

Koeberlinia ''Koeberlinia'' is a genus of flowering plant. It is the sole genus in the family ''Koeberliniaceae''. Alternately it is treated as a member of the Capparaceae The Capparaceae (or Capparidaceae), commonly known as the caper family, are a fami ...

'' Zucc. → Koeberliniaceae *''

Oxystylis ''Oxystylis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants currently considered a part of the Cleomaceae, cleome family containing the single species ''Oxystylis lutea'', which is known by the common name spiny caper. It is native to the Mojave Deser ...

'' Torr. & Frem. → Cleomaceae *'' Pentadiplandra'' Baill. → Pentadiplandraceae *''

Podandrogyne ''Podandrogyne'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cleomaceae. They are closely related to genus ''Cleome ''Cleome'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cleomaceae, commonly known as spider flowers, spider plants, spider w ...

'' Ducke → Cleomaceae *''

Polanisia ''Polanisia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cleomaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as clammyweeds. '' Polanisia jamesii'' is listed as locally endangered in Minnesota, while '' P. dodecandra'' is widespread through muc ...

'' Raf. → Cleomaceae *'' Setchellanthus'' Brandegee →

Setchellanthaceae ''Setchellanthus caeruleus'' is a species of pungent shrub with large blue flowers. It is placed alone in the genus ''Setchellanthus'', which is in turn, is placed alone in the family Setchellanthaceae. It is endemic to Mexico. The genus and the ...

*'' Stixis'' Lour. → Stixaceae *''

Tirania ''Tirania purpurea'', the sole species in genus ''Tirania'', is a species of climbing plant native to Asia. This genus is related to ''Forchhammeria'' and '' Stixis'', but the placement of these three is uncertain. They were placed in Capparace ...

'' Pierre → Stixaceae *'' Wislizenia'' Engelm. → Cleomaceae ;Additional genera to be excluded from the Capparaceae, according to Kers in Kubitzki ;;1. Genera that may be capparalean but do not fit within the Capparaceae *'' Neothorelia'' Gagnep. ;;2. Genera insufficiently known, but whose descriptions indicate they cannot belong to the Capparaceae *'' Borthwickia'' W.W.Sm. → Borthwickiaceae *'' Keithia'' Spreng. *''

Poilanedora ''Poilanedora'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Capparaceae. The only species is ''Poilanedora unijuga''. It is native to Vietnam. The genus name of ''Poilanedora'' is in honour of Eugène Poilane (1888–1964), ...

'' Gagnep. ;;3. Genera not treated in Kubitzki, but usually regarded as Capparaceae *'' Buhsia'' Bunge *'' Niebuhria'' DC.

References

*Cornejo, X. & H. H. Iltis. 2006. New combinations in Capparaceae sensu stricto for Flora of Ecuador. ''Harvard Pap. Bot.'' 11(1): 17–18. *Cornejo, X. & H. H. Iltis. 2008a. Two new genera of Capparaceae: ''Sarcotoxicum'' and ''Mesocapparis'' stat. nov., and the reinstatement of ''Neocalyptrocalyx''. ''Harvard Pap. Bot.'' 13(1): 103-116. *Cornejo, X. & H. H. Iltis. 2008b. New combinations in South American Capparaceae. ''Harvard Pap. Bot.'' 13(1): 117-120. *Cornejo, X. & H. H. Iltis. 2008c. ''Anisocapparis'' y ''Monilicarpa'': dos nuevos géneros de Capparaceae de América del Sur. ''J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas'' 2(1): 61-74. *Cornejo, X. & H. H. Iltis. 2008d. The reinstatement of ''Capparidastrum''. ''Harvard Pap. Bot.'' 13(2): 229-236. *Cornejo, X. & H. H. Iltis. 2008e. A revision of ''Colicodendron'' Mart. (Capparaceae s.s.). ''J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas'', 2(1): 75-93. * *Hall, J. C., K. J. Sytsma and H. H. Iltis. 2002. Phylogeny of Capparaceae and Brassicaceae based on chloroplast sequence data. ''American Journal of Botany'' 89: 1826-1842 (abstrac
here
. *Hall, J. C., H. H. Iltis and K. J. Sytsma. 2004. Molecular phylogenetics of core Brassicales, placement of orphan genera ''Emblingia'', ''Forchhammeria'', ''Tirania'', and character evolution. ''Systematic Botany'' 29: 654-669 (abstrac
here
. *Hall, J. C. 2008. Systematics of Capparaceae and Cleomaceae: an evaluation of the generic delimitations of Capparis and Cleome using plastid DNA sequence data. ''Botany'' 86: 682–696. *Iltis, H. H. & Cornejo, X. 2007. Studies in the Capparaceae XXX. ''Capparicordis'', a new genus from the Neotropics. ''Brittonia'' 59: 246–254. *Kers, L. E. 2003. Capparaceae. In: Kubitzki, K. (Series Editor):''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'', Vol.5: K. Kubitzki & C. Bayer (Volume Editors).Springer-Verlag Berlin, 36-56. * Takhtajan, A. 1997. ''Diversity and classification of flowering plants''.

External links

Capparaceae, in Flowering Plants of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica.

in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards).

{{Authority control Brassicales families

Taxonomy

Genera

Excluded genera

References

Further reading

External links