Flora of Israel: Millet grass

Piptatherum thomasii, Piptatherum miliaceum,
Millet grass, נשרן צפוף

Scientific name:   Piptatherum thomasii (Duby) Kunth
Synonym name:   Piptatherum miliaceum (L.) Coss. var. thomasii (Duby) Freitag
Common name:   Millet grass
Hebrew name:   נשרן צפוף
Family:   Graminea (Poaceae), Grass Family, משפחת הדגניים


Life form:   Hemicryptophyte
Stems:   Culms often branched
Leaves:   Alternate, rosette, entire
Inflorescence:   Panicle; spikelets with 1 bisexual lemma, rhachilla (=a branch of inflorescence) articulated above the glumes
Flowers:   Green
Fruits / pods:   Caryopses
Flowering Period:   February, March, April, May, June, July
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Piptatherum, pipto, “to fall”, and ather, “stalk”.

thomasii, after Major George Henry Thomas (1816 – 1870), stationed at Fort Yuma about 1850, and later as a general a Civil War hero called the Rock of Chickamauga.
miliaceum, pertaining to millet; millet-like.
The Hebrew name: נשרן, nasran, formed from נשר, nashar (=to fall out).

  • The standard author abbreviation Duby is used to indicate Jean Étienne Duby (1798 – 1885), a Swiss Evangelical priest in Geneve and botanist (worked on cryptogams).
  • The standard author abbreviation Kunth is used to indicate Carl Sigismund Kunth (1788 – 1850), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • 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 Coss. is used to indicate Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (1819 – 1889), a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Freitag is used to indicate Helmut Freitag (born Berlin 1932), a German botanist