Kair / Caper Plant
Capparis decidua
- Habit
- Tree
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra & more
- Flowering
- February-November
How to identify Kair
Identify Kair by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a tree habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Nearly leafless with photosynthetic green stems, arid-zone plant.
- Confirm leaf shape: Leafless/reduced (green stems).
- Confirm flower colour: White.
- Confirm fruit type: Berry.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: February-November.
- In India, compare location records such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and nearby regions.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Capparis decidua
- Genus
- Capparis
- Family
- Capparaceae
- Habit
- Tree
- Habitat
- Deciduous forests
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Distribution
- India, West Asia, North-East Africa, Pakistan
- Found in India
- Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand
- Flowering & fruiting
- February-November
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- Leafless/reduced (green stems)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Kair itself; the rest are typical of the Capparaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Whiterecorded
- Fruit type
- BerryrecordedA fleshy fruit with seeds embedded directly in the pulp, no central stone.“The pink fleshy berries are readily eaten by birds.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Raceme
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Kair itself; the rest are typical of the Capparaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- कैर kair, कैरिया kairiya, करीर karir
- Bengali
- করেল karil
- Tamil
- சிரக்கோழி cira-k-koli, குழலாதொண்டை kulal-atontai, கெந்திகம் kentikam
- Telugu
- ఏనుగుదంత enugadanta, కరీరము kariramu, ముముదాటు mumudatu
- Kannada
- ಚಿಪ್ಪುರಿ chippuri, ಕರೀರ karir, ಕರೀ ಉಪ್ಪಿ ಗಿಡ kari uppi gida
- Malayalam
- കരിമുള്ളി karimulli, കരീരം kariram, തൂതവളം tudavalam
- Marathi
- करील karil, करीर karir, किरळ kiral
About Kair
A member of the Capparaceae family, Caper Plant (Capparis decidua) is a tree. In India it has been recorded in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and 8 other states. It grows in deciduous forests. Flowering and fruiting run from February to November.
Capparaceae
Caper Family
Kair belongs to the Capparaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
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