Flora of Israel: Ladies’ false fleabane

Pulicaria arabica, ladies’ false fleabane, Arabian fleabane,
Hebrew: פרעושית ערבית, Arabic: رعراع أيوب


Scientific name:		Pulicaria arabica (L.) Cass.
Common name:		Ladies’ false fleabane, Arabian fleabane
Hebrew name:		פרעושית ערבית
Arabic name:		رعراع أيوب
Family:		Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}


Life form:		Pherophyte, annual
Leaves:		Alternate, entire
Flowers:		Yellow
Flowering Period:		April, May, June, July, August, September
Habitat:		Humid habitats
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:		Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}
Derivation of the botanical name:

Pulicaria, from the Latin pulex, “a flea”, because it was said to drive away these pests.

arabica, arabicus, “Arabian”.
The Hebrew name: פרעושית, paroshit common flea bane (Pulicaria); formed from פרעוש with suffix ית, it, as a loan translation of Pulicaria from Latin pulex (= flea); so called because it is supposed to drive away fleas.

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
The standard author abbreviation Cass. is used to indicate Alexandre Henri Gabriel de Cassini (1781 – 1832), a French botanist and naturalist, who specialised in the sunflower family (Asteraceae).

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}