native caper
Capparis sandwichiana · Capparaceae
native caper (Capparis sandwichiana) is a perennial shrub in the Capparaceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 11 and warmer, down to about 40°F.
At a glance
| Type | shrub USDA |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle | perennial USDA |
| Native status | native USDA |
| Mature height | 20 ft USDA |
| Light | part-shade USDA |
| Growth rate | slow USDA |
| Soil pH | 5–8 USDA |
| Flower color | White USDA |
| Hardiness zones | 11 and warmer USDA |
| Guild layer | shrub Derived |
USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.
Growing conditions
It grows in partial shade. It is recorded on soils from pH 5 to 8 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 11; USDA publishes no warm-end limit, so gardeners in warmer zones should check local heat tolerance separately.
Size and growth
At maturity it reaches about 20 ft, making it a mid-sized plant. It grows slowly, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.
Role in a guild
Shrub layer. In a layered planting this is woody mid-level structure between the understory and the ground. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.
Tags
Related plants
Others in Capparis
- burro blanco Capparis amplissima
- caper Capparis baducca
- Jamaican caper Capparis cynophallophora
- falseteeth Capparis flexuosa
Similar role and hardiness
- wild cinnamon Canella winterana
- tietongue Coccoloba diversifolia
- common calabash tree Crescentia cujete
- fragrant dracaena Dracaena fragrans
- Spanish thyme Lippia micromera
Where this data comes from
Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol CASA4, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.
duration— quoted from USDA PLANTSflower_color— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_habit— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_rate— quoted from USDA PLANTSguild_role— derived by rule from USDA columnsmature_height_ft— quoted from USDA PLANTSnative_status— quoted from USDA PLANTSnitrogen_fixer— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_max— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_min— quoted from USDA PLANTSshade_tolerance— quoted from USDA PLANTStemperature_min_f— quoted from USDA PLANTSzone_min— quoted from USDA PLANTS
Read our full data sources and methodology.
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