Flora of Israel: Jerusalem Spurge

Euphorbia hierosolymitana, Euphorbia thamnoides, Jerusalem Spurge, Woody Spurge,

Hebrew: חלבלוב מגובשש, Arabic: حلببون , حلبلوب المقدس


Scientific name:		Euphorbia hierosolymitana Boiss.
Synonym name:		Euphorbia thamnoides Boiss.
Common name:		Jerusalem Spurge
Hebrew name:		חלבלוב מגובשש
Arabic name:		حلببون , حلبلوب المقدس
Plant Family:		Euphorbiaceae, חלבלוביים


Life form:		Chamaephyte, semi-shrub
Stems:		20-40 cm high, with dense branches, producing milky juice upon injury
Leaves:		Alternate, entire
Inflorescence:		Cyathium
Flowers:		Yellowish green, with trilobed; green
Fruits / pods:		Capsule
Flowering Period:		January, February, March, April
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:		Mediterranean
Summer shedding:		Perennating

Derivation of the botanical name:

Euphorbia, Εὔφορβος, Euphorbus, after the Numidian physician Euphorbus, physician to Juba II, King of Numidia and Mauretania, about the end of the first century BCE. In classical Greek ευφορβοσ (euphorbos) means well fed.

hierosolymitana, hierosolyma, Jerusalem.
thamnoides, bush-like.
spurge from the Old French word espurgier (Latin expurgare), which means “to purge.” The sap of many herbaceous Euphorbia species have traditionally been used as a purgative, or laxative.

The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.

Inflorescence definition Cyathium: a cup-shaped involucre bearing several minute stamens (male flowers) and a pistillate flower consisting of an ovary on a long stalk (pedicel). The rim of the cyathium often bears one or more nectar glands and petaloid appendages; this feature is present in every species of the genus Euphorbia but nowhere else in the plantkingdom.

See the list of Medicinal herbs in Israel, the parts used and their medical uses to treat various diseases.

_{Location: Golan Heights}

_{Location: Road 87, Yahudiya}