Israel flowers: Autumn Grape Hyacinth

Muscari parviflorum, Muscari autumnalis, Bothryanthus parviflorus, Autumn Grape Hyacinth, Lesser Grape Hyacinth,

Hebrew: כדן קטן-פרחים

Scientific name:   Muscari parviflorum Desf.
Synonym name:   Hyacinthus parviflorus (Desf.) Pers., Bothryanthus parviflorus (Desf.) Kunth
Common name:   Autumn Grape Hyacinth, Lesser Grape Hyacinth
Hebrew name:   כדן קטן-פרחים
Family:   Liliaceae, שושניים


Location: Ramat Hanadiv
Life form:   Geophyte
Stems:   6-11 cm high
Leaves:   All basal, narrowly linear or filiform, entire
Inflorescence:   Raceme very lax, cylindrical
Flowers:   Lilach, dark blue; tube of mature fertile flowers pale blue to dark blue; perianth pale blue; teeth paler, with a median darker blue stripe, recurved; pedicels ascending
Fruits / pods:   Capsule with sharply angled valves
Flowering Period:   September, October, November
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   The Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Location: Ramat Hanadiv

Derivation of the botanical name:

Muscari, grape-hyacint; Greek moschus, musk; an allusion to the sweet scent of some species. Umberto Quattrocchi says: A Turkish name recorded by Clusius in 1583. Latin muscus, i “moss, musk.”

parviflorum, Greek parvus, small; flora, flower; small-flowered.
Hyacinthus, named for Hyakinthios, a young prince of Sparta, loved by Apollo, who died after being struck on the head by a discus. The hyacinth flower sprouted where his blood fell.
autumnalis, pertaining to autumn.
Bothryanthus, botrys βοτρυϛ, grape; anthos, a flower; grape flower.
The Hebrew name: כדן, kadan, hyacinth.

  • The standard author abbreviation Desf. is used to indicate René Louiche Desfontaines (1750 – 1833), a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Kunth is used to indicate Carl Sigismund Kunth (1788 – 1850), a German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Pers. is used to indicate Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1761 – 1836), a mycologist, born in South Africa, who donated his herbarium to the House of Orange, in return for an adequate pension for life.