Flora of Israel: Spiny molucca

Moluccella spinosa, Spiny molucca,
Hebrew: בר-גביע קוצני, Arabic: ذبيبينة شوكية


Scientific name:		Moluccella spinosa L.
Common name:		Spiny molucca
Hebrew name:		בר-גביע קוצני
Arabic name:		ذبيبينة شوكية
Family:		Labiatae / Lamiaceae, שפתניים

_{Location: The Sharon Plain, Migdal Zedek tomb al-Sadiq}


Life form:		Therophyte, annual
Spinescence:		Flowers
Stems:		30-100 cm
Leaves:		Opposite, entire, ovate to orbicular-ovate, coursly serrate or incised
Inflorescence:		Verticillasterss 6- to 10-flowered, distant; bracteoles subulate, spinose, deflexed
Flowers:		Corolla, white, pink, villous
Fruits / pods:		Nutlets
Flowering Period:		April, May, June, July, August
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:		Mediterranean
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral

_{Location: The Sharon Plain, Migdal Zedek tomb al-Sadiq}
Derivation of the botanical name:

Moluccella, Shell-flower; derivation of the name is uncertain; some say: from the Indonesian Molucca Islands; Umberto Quattrocchi says: “Presumably from an Arabic word meaning “king” or a diminutive of Molucca.”

spinosa, spiny.
The Hebrew name: בר-גביע, bar-gvia; בר, bar (= clean, pure); גביע (= cup, goblet; cup of a flower, calyx).

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

_{Location: The Sharon Plain, Migdal Zedek tomb al-Sadiq}