Flora of Israel: Palestine Vetch

Vicia palaestina, Palestine Vetch,
Hebrew: ביקיה ארצישראלית , Arabic: البيقية الفلسطينية

Scientific name:   Vicia palaestina Boiss.
Common name:   Palestine Vetch
Hebrew name:   ביקיה ארצישראלית
Arabic name:   البيقية الفلسطينية
Family:   Papilionaceae, פרפרניים

      

Life form:   Annual, climber
Stems:   Erect; pretty bare stem in lower part, branching towards the top
Leaves:   Alternate, compound
Flowers:   Violet
Fruits / pods:   Legume oblong-lanceolate
Flowering Period:   February, March, April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Vicia, vetch; the classical Latin name for these herbs, perhaps related to vincire to bind.

palaestina, Palestine, Eretz-Israel, Israel.
vetch, late 14c., from Old North French, veche, variant of Old French vece, from Latin vicia.
The Hebrew name: בקיה, bakia, Post Biblical Hebrew: vetch; Greek: bikion, from Arabic: بيقية (bikia) or باقية (bakya).

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