Botany
A smooth, half-erect shrub with drooping branches or a vine growing to 2 to 4 meters, with short, sharp and nearly straight stipular thorns. Leaves are oblong to oblong-elliptic, 8 to 17 cm long, leathery, shiny, with a blunt apex and rounded base. Flowers are in vertical line aloing the branches above the leaf axils, shortly pedicelled, 3 to 6 in a series. Sepals are pale green, petals are oblong or elliptic, 1 cm long. Fruit is ovoid or rounded, 4 to 5 cm long, smooth and bright red when ripe. It has a thin, slightly stony rind. Within the rind is a whitish and transparent sweet pulp. Numerous seeds are embedded in the pulp.

Distribution
In thickets, at low and medium altitudes.

Parts utiliezed
Roots.

Uses
Folkloric
Decoction of roots used for stomach pains or as uterine tonic after childbirth.
Plant also used for asthma.
The bark is used as diuretic and used for bronchitis and nasal ulcerations.
In the Yasothon province of Thailand, roots used as tonic; also, for tuberculosis.
Stems used for breast cancer.
In India, root is grated with water and used to treat quotidian fever.
In Indonesia, root is employed as a diuretic; infusion with other ingredients used for bronchitis.

Studies
• Anti-Cancer / Antituberculosis: Study of hexane extract of the leaves of Capparis micracantha showed lung cancer inhibition. The hexane and dichlormethane extracts of flowers showed anti-tuberculosis activity. All crude extracts showed non-cytotoxicity against Vero cells.

Availability
Wild-crafted. 

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Medicinal plants used in the Loengnoktha District / Thai Journal of Phytopharmacy Vol. 9(2) Dec. 2002
(2)
STUDIES ON ALKALOIDS / Shoib Arif / Thesis /
(3)
ANTI-CANCER AND ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS ACTIVITY OF THE CRUDE EXTRACTS FROM Capparis micracantha DC / Itsara Khantikaew et al / 33rd Congress on Science and Technology of Thailand /