St. John USVI Flora: Black Caper (Capparis cynophallophora)

Select Flora Acacia Amarat Anthurium Bamboo Baobob Bananas Bay Rum Beach Maho Black Caper Breadfruit Cactus Calabash Catch 'n' Keep Century Plant Chocolate Christmas Bush Coconuts Coffee Cotton Egg Fruit Fiddlewood Flamboyant Frangipani Genip Gooseberry Guavaberry Hog Plum Hot Peppers Jacquinea Kapok Lignum Vitae Mampoo Mango Maran Maubi Night Blooming Cerius Nothing Nut Pinguin Pistarckle Poui Sage Sandbox Seagrape Sea Puslane Sensitive Plant Starfruit Sugar Apple Sweet Lime Tamarind Torch Wood Wild Tamarind West Indian Locust White Cedar White Manjack

Black Caper Seedpod

The black caper is commonly found in St. John's dry forest environment.

Black Caper Trunk

The bark of the black caper ranges from a gray to a dark brown almost black color.

juvenile leaves

Black Caper Leaves

The juvenile leaves are long and thin quite different in appearance than the mature leaves.

flowers

The flower opens at night. It's strong fragrance attracts moths that are instrumental in pollination. At first the flower in white and then turns purple later on.