Flora of Israel: Cretan plantain

Plantago cretica, Cretan plantain,
Hebrew: לחך כרתי, Arabic: لسان الحمل الكريتي


Scientific name:		Plantago cretica L.
Common name:		Cretan plantain
Hebrew name:		לחך כרתי
Arabic name:		لسان الحمل الكريتي
Family:		Plantaginaceae, לחכיים

_{Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve}


Life form:		Therophyte, annual
Leaves:		Rosette, entire, smooth
Flowers:		Green
Flowering Period:		March, April, May
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:		Mediterranean
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral
Protected Flower, צמח מוגן:		No

_{Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve}
Derivation of the botanical name:

Plantago, plantagin (stem), a “plantain”.

cretica, from the island of Crete.
The Hebrew name: לחך, lahakh, the plantain, New Hebrew, from לחך, lahakh, was licked up, was lapped up, was eaten up.

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

_{Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve}