Flora of Israel: Round-leaved Heliotrope

Heliotropium rotundifolium, Round-leaved Heliotrope,
Hebrew: עוקץ-עקרב עגול-עלים, Arabic: رقيب الشمس دائري الأوراق

Scientific name:   Heliotropium rotundifolium Lehm.
Common name:   Round-leaved Heliotrope
Hebrew name:   עוקץ-עקרב עגול-עלים
Arabic name:   رقيب الشمس دائري الأوراق
Family:   Boraginaceae, זיפניים


Location: Maagan Kibbutz Holiday Village – Sea of Galilee

Life form:   Chamaephyte
Stems:   20-33 cm high; pubescent
Leaves:   Alternate, entire, smooth
Inflorescence:   Racemes, at length lax
Flowers:   Hermaphrodite, white
Fruits / pods:   Nutlets minutely tubercled, glabrous
Flowering Period:   April, May, June, July, August, September
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Location: Maagan Kibbutz Holiday Village – Sea of Galilee

Derivation of the botanical name:

Heliotropium, Greek helios, sun; trope, turning; meaning sun-turning, referring to the turning of flowers toward the sun.

rotundifolium, rotundus, round, spherical; with round leaves.
The Hebrew name: עוקץ-עקרב, oketz -akrav, scorpion-sting; inflorescence with small flowers somewhat resembling a scorpion sting.

  • The standard author abbreviation Lehm. is used to indicate Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (1792 – 1860), a German botanist.