Arabian launea

Launaea angustifolia, Launaea arabica, Launaea foxii, Arabian launea,
Hebrew: לוניאה צרת-עלים, Arabic: حوة ضيقة الأوراق الحوة ضيقة الأوراق لات

Scientific name:   Launaea angustifolia (Desf.) O.Kuntze
Synonym name:   Launaea arabica (Boiss.) H.Lindb., Launaea foxii (Post) Dinsmore
Common name:   Arabian launea
Hebrew name:   לוניאה צרת-עלים
Arabic name:   حوة ضيقة الأوراق الحوة ضيقة الأوراق لات
Family:   Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים


Location: Aravah
Life form:   Therophyte, annual
Succulence:   Leaf succulent
Stems:   10-30 cm high; ascending, glabrous, usually branched above; the stems contain a milky juice
Leaves:   Alternate, entire, incised-dentate ending in a hard white mucro, succulent
Inflorescence:   Flower heads at stem apices
Flowers:   Yellow, 4 cm in diameter
Fruits / pods:   Achene, 3 cm long, quadrangular, each side bearing a dense white pappus of hairs, 4-5mm long
Flowering Period:   February, March, April
Habitat:   Desert, Thermophilous plants
Distribution:   Semi-steppe shrublands, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Saharo-Arabian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Location: Aravah

Derivation of the botanical name:

Launaea, named after French lawyer Jean Claude Mien Mordant de Launay (c.1750-1816).

angustifolia, Latin angusti-, narrow; narrow-leaved.
arabica, of Arabia.
foxii, for Walter Fox (1858 – 1934) of Kew, England.
The Hebrew name: לוניאה, Launaea, a transliteration from the scientific name.

  • The standard author abbreviation Desf. is used to indicate René Louiche Desfontaines (1750 – 1833), a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation O.Kuntze is used to indicate Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (1843 – 1907), a German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.
  • The standard author abbreviation H.Lindb. is used to indicate Harald Lindberg (1871 – 1963), a Finnish botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Post is used to indicate George Edward Post (1838 – 1909), a Pioneer Botanist of the Middle East. He wrote the first flora of the Middle East, published in 1884, and was a professor of surgery at the Syrian Protestant College from 1868 until his death.
  • The standard author abbreviation Dinsmore is used to indicate John Edward Dinsmore (1862 – 1951), who moved from Maine to Jerusalem in the 1890’s to join a Protestant commune called The American Colony. John Edward Dinsmore revised ‘The Flora of Syrya, Palestine and Sinai’ by George Edward Post, published in 1932 by the American University of Beirut.