The leaves form between the spines and are alternate, oblong to broadly elliptic[3] (30-80 × 15–25 mm), greyish-olive green, covered in velvet hairs (or smooth); margins entire, rolled under.

The flowers form in clusters; terminally on the primary branches or on short leafy lateral branchlets or occasionally scattered in the upper leaf-axils.

Desert sheep, zebu calves and Nubian goats were fed varying amounts of dry Capparis tomentosa leaves and died or were killed in extremis at various times after the commencement of dosing.

[4][5] Signs of Capparis poisoning in the sheep and calves were; weakness of the hind limbs, staggering, swaying, flexion of the fetlock and phalangeal joints, pain in the sacral region, inappetence and recumbency.

[4] The main pathological changes were vacuolation of the neurons and axons in the spinal cord, with necrosis of the centrilobular hepatocytes and renal convoluted tubules and glomeruli.

[4] In Capparis-fed goats, anaemia developed and the results of kidney and liver function tests were correlated with clinical abnormalities and pathologic changes.