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| Limber Caper flower |
I missed seeing fireworks on the Fourth of July, but since the recent rain some local trees have been showing off their own bright sparklers.
There are a number of members of the caper family growing in the Virgin Islands. However they are not from the branch that produces the kind of capers that are edible – those are grown in the Mediterranean area.
The native Virgin Islands capers have their own charms. For one thing their thick, dark leaves mostly stay green, even during the dry season when many other trees go limp or drop their leaves. But it is their profusion of flashy white flowers that has really caught my attention recently.
The Limber Capers or Dogwoods (Cynophalla flexuosa) are in fact loose-limbed shrubs, sometimes bending over and acting more like vines when they are mixed in with other trees. They have large spiky flowers, and when the flowers all open up overnight it looks like a new constellation has appeared right in the front yard.
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| Limber Caper bush |
The flowers don’t last long though. They are already droopy by the end of the day after they bloom. But they aren’t finished showing off then. Once the flowers have passed, their bean-like seed pods are also striking, because they have skins that are bright red inside.
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| Limber Caper seed pod |
The Leatherleaf Capers (Cynophalla hastata) are shrubby like the Limber Capers but their leaves are thicker and rounder. The flowers are also more compact, and sometimes have a pinkish tinge.
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| Leatherleaf Caper flower |
White
Capers (Quadrella indica) are larger
trees, standing up straight with regularly-spaced branches. Their white flowers
are smaller and more delicate than those of the Limber Caper.
White Caper flower
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| Black Caper flower |
All of these flowers have been bursting into bloom near my
house recently. No loud blasts, though, just quiet celebrations of July in
the Virgin Islands.
