Flora of Israel: Foxtail Rest Harrow

Ononis alopecuroides, Foxtail Rest Harrow,
Hebrew: שברק משובל, Arabic: الشبرق الثعلبي


Scientific name:		Ononis alopecuroides L.
Common name:		Foxtail Rest Harrow
Hebrew name:		שברק משובל
Arabic name:		الشبرق الثعلبي, alshabriq althaelabiu
Family:		Papilionaceae, פרפרניים


Life form:		Annual
Stems:		10-65 cm; nearly glabrous below, densely hairy and glandular above
Leaves:		Alternate, entire
Inflorescence:		Dense terminal racemes, elongating slightly after anthesis
Flowers:		Corolla 13-16mm; Pink
Fruits / pods:		Legume
Flowering Period:		April, May
Habitat:		Humid habitats
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:		Mediterranean
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral

Derivation of the botanical name:

Ononis, (Theophrastus) is from the Greek onos, meaning “ass” (because they are said especially to like it), and the classical Greek name used by Pliny for the rest-harrow.

alopecuroides, alopecuros, αλωπεκουροϛ (αλωπεξ ουρα) Theophrastus: “fox tail, fox brush”; -oides, -οειδεϛ, “like, resemble”; like the genus Alopecurus (foxtail).
The hebrew word: shabrak, שברק, borrowed from Arabic Al-Shabraq, Al-Shibraq, ononis.

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: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}