What is "bean caper"

Bean caper \Bean" ca`per\ (Bot.) A deciduous plant of warm climates, generally with fleshy leaves and flowers of a yellow or whitish yellow color, of the genus Zygophyllum.

Caper \Ca"per\, n. [F. c[^a]pre, fr. L. capparis, Gr. ?; cf. Ar. & Per. al-kabar.]

1. The pungent grayish green flower bud of the European and Oriental caper ( Capparis spinosa), much used for pickles.

2. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Capparis; -- called also caper bush, caper tree.

   Note: The Capparis spinosa is a low prickly shrub of the Mediterranean coasts, with trailing branches and brilliant flowers; -- cultivated in the south of Europe for its buds. The Capparis sodada is an almost leafless spiny shrub of central Africa (Soudan), Arabia, and southern India, with edible berries.

   Bean caper. See Bran caper, in the Vocabulary.

   Caper sauce, a kind of sauce or catchup made of capers.

n. perennial shrub of the eastern Mediterranean region and southwestern Asia having flowers whose buds are used as capers [syn: Syrian bean caper, Zygophyllum fabago]