Flora of Israel: Nonea echioides

Nonea echioides, Nonea ventricosa, Monkswort,
Hebrew: נוניאה כרסנית

Scientific name:   Nonea echioides (L.) Roemer et Schultes
Synonym name:   Nonea ventricosa (Sm.) Griseb.
Common name:   Monkswort
Hebrew name:   נוניאה כרסנית
Plant Family:   Boraginaceae, זיפניים


Life form:   Annual
Stems:   5-12cm high, ascending, little branched
Leaves:   Alternate, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acute to subotuse entire, smooth
Inflorescence:   Flowers in bracteate, terminal cymes
Flowers:   White , pale yellowish corolla with cylindrical tube , infundibuliform limb 4-5mm in diameter, divided to c. 1/2 into lobes which are wider than long
Fruits / pods:   Nutlets
Flowering Period:   March, April
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes
Chorotype:   Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Nonea, Nonnea, for Johann Philipp. Nonne (1729–72), botanical writer, and Professor of Medicine from Erfurt, Germany.

echioides, resembling the genus Echium, Greek echis, a viper, the nutlets appearing to represent a viper’s head.
ventricosa, swollen on one side.
The Hebrew name: נוניאה, nonea, transliteration from the scientific name.

  • 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 Roemer is used to indicate Johann Jakob Roemer (1763 – 1819), a Swiss physician, professor of botany and entomologist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Schultes is used to indicate Josef August Schultes (1773 – 1831), an Austrian botanist and professor in Vienna.
  • The standard author abbreviation Sm. is used to indicate James Edward Smith (1759 – 1828), an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.
  • The standard author abbreviation Griseb. is used to indicate August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach (1814 – 1879), a German botanist and phytogeographer.