Humble Poppy

Papaver humile, Humble Poppy,
Hebrew: פרג נחות, Arabic: الخشخاش المنخفض


Scientific name:		Papaver humile Fedde
Common name:		Humble Poppy
Hebrew name:		פרג נחות
Arabic name:		الخشخاش المنخفض
Family:		Papaveraceae, פרגיים


Life form:		Annual
Stems:		15-40 cm
Leaves:		Alternate, rosette, dissected, dentate or serrate
Inflorescence:		Solitaire
Flowers:		Red, stigmas on a sessile disc at top of ovary
Fruits / pods:		Capsule
Flowering Period:		April, May, June
Habitat:		Shrub-steppes, Desert
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:		Saharo-Arabian
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral

Derivation of the botanical name:

Papaver, the classical Latin name for the poppy.

humile, low, low-growing, humble.
Poppy, derived from the Old English popæg and referring to various species of Papaver.
The Hebrew name: pereg, פרג (sometimes parag) derives from the Sanskrit word priyangu, meaning “foxtail millet” (or “panic seed”.) . It is found in the plural – פרגין – in the Mishna (Sheviit 2:7, Chalah 1:4) and in the Talmud (Rosh Hashana 13b), listed together with other crops that aren’t full grains like shumshum שומשום – sesame and orez אורז – rice.

The standard author abbreviation Fedde is used to indicate Friedrich Karl Georg Fedde (1873 – 1942), a German botanist.

Hybridazation often occurs among Papaver rhoeas P.carmeli, P. humile and P. umbonatum.