Credit: Bo Basil
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Credit URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org...
Comments: Caper berries in a bush on the Western Wall, Jerusalem July 2018
Credit: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Credit URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org...
Comments: Capparis spinosa subsp. rupestris in the Botanischer Garten, Berlin-Dahlem
Credit: Florian Prischl
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Credit URL: https://commons.wikimedia.org...
Caper, Desire. Capparis spinosa. אביונה ’ăḇîyōnāh - Strongs: H35.
From ISBE: Caperberry - ka'-per-ber-i ('abhiyonah; kapparis; Ecclesiastes 12:5 the Revised Version, margin): The translation "the caperberry shall fail" (the Revised Version (British and American) "burst") instead of "desire shall fail" (the King James Version) has the support of the Septuagint and of some Talmudic writers (see G. F. Moore, JBL, X, 55-64), but it is doubtful.
The caperberry is the fruit of the thorny caper, Capparis spinosa (Natural Order Capparidaceae), a common Palestine plant with pretty white flowers and brightly colored stamens. Largely on account of its habit of growing out of crevasses in old walls it has been identified by some with the HYSOOP(which see). The familiar "capers" of commerce are the young buds, but the berries were the parts most used in ancient times; their repute as excitants of sexual desire is ancient and widespread. Various parts of this plant are still used for medical purposes by the modern peasants of Palestine.
E. W. G. Masterman
