Shrub · Capparaceae
Native caper
Capparis sandwichiana
Native caper is recorded as native to 1 state or territory in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 4 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Native caper at a glance
- Native in
- 4 counties, across 1 state or territory
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 11a PLANTS minimum temperature 40°F
- Mature height
- 20 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Moisture use not recorded
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 11a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 40°F; zone 11a winters bottom out at 40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Native caper is recorded as native to 1 state or territory in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 4 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 4 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 4 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Hawaii 4 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 20 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Year Round
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Not recorded
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Not recorded
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 200 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Not recorded
- pH range
- 5 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Not recorded
- Salinity tolerance
- High
- Fertility requirement
- Not recorded
- Minimum root depth
- 24 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 40°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 11a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 365
- Fire tolerance
- Not recorded
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Not recorded
- Foliage color
- Not recorded
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Orange
Other
- Toxicity
- Not recorded
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Not recorded
- Family
- Capparaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CASA4
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Capparis sandwichiana (PLANTS symbol CASA4).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources