Flowers in Israel: Cow parsnip

Tordylium trachycarpum, Ainsworthia trachycarpa, Cow parsnip,
Hebrew: סלסילה מצויה, Arabic: الطرديلن خشن الثمار

Scientific name:   Tordylium trachycarpum (Boiss.) Al-Eisawi & Jury
Synonym name:   Ainsworthia trachycarpa Boiss.
Common name:   Cow parsnip
Hebrew name:   סלסילה מצויה
Arabic name:   الطرديلن خشن الثمار
Plant Family:   Umbelliferae / Apiaceae, סוככיים


Life form:   Therophyte, annual
stems:   Erect, terete, ridged, densely scabrous, 20-80cm
Leaves:   Alternate, rosette, entire, dissected, pinnate, dentate or serrate, crenulate
Flowers:   Sepals absent. Petals white, radiate, the outer 5-8 mm long, unequally 2-lobed, glabrous. Stamens 1.5 mm long. Styles 0.5 mm; stylopodium conical depressed.
Fruits / pods:   Mericarps 3-6 mm diameter, orbicular with soft, thick margins and covered with vesicular hairs.
Flowering Period:   March, April, May, June
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:

Tordylium, from tordylon, tordylion Τορδυλιον ancient Greek names for an umbelliferous plant.

Ainsworthianamed for Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth (1905–1998), a British mycologist.
trachycarpa, trachys, τραχυϛ, “rough, rugged, rocky”, carpos, καρποϛ, “fruit”; meaning rough seeded.
The Hebrew name: סלסילה, salsila, a small basket, probably a loan word from Akkadian salsilu (= basket).

  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.
  • The standard author abbreviation Al-Eisawi is used to indicate Dawud al-Eisawi, a professor of botany at the University of Jordan.
  • The standard author abbreviation Jury is used to indicate Dr Stephen Jury , The University of Reading, School of Plant Sciences; UK.