Flora of Israel | Scrophularia rubricaulis

Scrophularia rubricaulis, Scrophularia michoniana, Red-stemmed Figwort,

Hebrew: לוענית גדולה, Arabic: خنازيرية حمراء الساق


Scientific name:		Scrophularia rubricaulis Boiss.
Synonym name:		Scrophularia michoniana Coss. et Kral.
Common name:		Red-stemmed Figwort
Hebrew name:		לוענית גדולה
Arabic name:		خنازيرية حمراء الساق
Family:		Scrophulariaceae, לועניים


Life form:		Hemicryptophyte
Leaves:		Opposite, dissected once, dentate or serrate
Flowers:		Red, white
Flowering Period:		February, March, April
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:		Mediterranean
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral

Derivation of the botanical name:

Scrophularia, named in 1474 by an Italian physician who noticed the resemblance between the rhizomal knobs of some species and the tubercular condition of human lymph nodes called scrophula.

rubricaulis, ruber red, ruddy; caulis καυλοϛ stem of a plant; red stemmed.
michoniana, named after a French Abbé Jean-Hippolyte Michon (1806 – 81).
The Hebrew name: לוענית, loanit, formed from לע, loa (=throat) with suffix נית – nit.

The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.
The standard author abbreviation Coss. is used to indicate Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (1819 – 1889), a French botanist.
The standard author abbreviation Kral. is used to indicate Jean-Louis Kralik 1813 – 1892, a French botanist.

Scrophularia, Figwort, alludes to the plant’s use as a treatment for scrofula, a form of tuberculosis.
According to the Doctrine of Signatures (which holds that a plant’s appearance indicates the ailments its treats), Scrophularia root resembles the swollen glands, infected with tuberculosis.

_{Location: Gilboa, Mount Shaul}