Aspalathus, a plant mentioned in Pliny the Elder's "Natural History," Dioscorides' "De Materia Medica," Theophrastus' "Enquiry into Plants," and Ecclesiasticus is most probably caper (Capparis sp.). It has an Akkadian linguistic cognate, supālu. Ethnobotanical, archaeobotanical, and linguistic evidence show that this plant has played a role in the ancient, but ongoing cultural tradition in the Near East.