Israel flowers: Common Roman Squill

Bellevalia flexuosa, Common Roman Squill,
Hebrew: זמזומית מצויה, Arabic: البلفية المتعرجة

Scientific name:   Bellevalia flexuosa Boiss.
Common name:   Common Roman Squill
Hebrew name:   זמזומית מצויה
Arabic name:   البلفية المتعرجة
Family:   Liliaceae, שושניים


Life form:   Geophyte
Stems:   12-23 cm high; pink, violet color of the stem and pedicels
Leaves:   Rosette, usually prostate and wavy, with rough or shortly ciliate margins
Flowers:   Raceme; flower-buds white; becoming greenish brown
Fruits / pods:   Capsule, obtuse at apex; seeds rounded or occasionally pear-shaped, smooth, dull, black, but sometimes with a bluish bloom
Flowering Period:   February, March
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:

Bellevalia, named in honor of Pierre Richer de Belleval (1564-1632), who founded the Montpellier Botanic Garden in 1593.

flexuosus, flexuos, full of turns, winding, tortuous; bending, curvy.
The Hebrew name: זמזומית, zimzumit, it’s origin is in the buzzing, humming (זמזום, zimzum), that the flowers make when they are slightly crushed by hand.

  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.