Israel flowers: Faktorowsky’s Aaronsonia

Aaronsohnia factorovskyi, Faktorowsky’s Aaronsonia,
Hebrew: אהרונסוניית פקטורי ,אהרונסוניית פקטורובסקי, Arabic: قراص- قرقاص

Scientific name:   Aaronsohnia factorovskyi Warb. & Eig
English name:   Faktorowsky’s Aaronsonia
Hebrew/שם עברי:   אהרונסוניית פקטורי ,אהרונסוניית פקטורובסקי
Arabic/الاسم العربي:   قراص- قرقاص
Español:   Aaronsonia
Plant Family:   Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים


Life form:   Therophyte, annual
Stems:   8-25 cm high, branched at base with stems erect or decumbent
Leaves:   Alternate, 1.5-4 cm long, pinnately parted
Inflorescence:   Solitary yellow flowers on numerous leafless peduncles exceeding the leafy stem parts
Flowers:   Yellow discoid heads, hemispherical, mostly 6-8 mm in diameter, with bright yellow florets
Flowering Period:   March, April
Habitat:   Shrub-steppes, Desert
Distribution:   Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype, טיפוס התפוצה:   Saharo-Arabian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Aaronsohnia_factorovskyi, named after the agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn (1876 – 1919), a Jewish agronomist, botanist, and Zionist activist.

factorovskyi, in honor of Eliezer Faktorovsky, a Russian-born Palestine botanist and close friend of Alexander Eig (1894 – 1938).
The Hebrew word: אַהֲרוֹנְסוֹנִיָּה, from Latin: Aaronsohnia.

  • The standard author abbreviation Warb. is used to indicate Otto Warburg (1859 – 1938), a botanist and industrial agriculture expert and an active member of the Zionist Organization, which worked toward the re-establishment of Israel.
  • The standard author abbreviation Eig. is used to indicate Alexander Eig (1894 – 1938), a botanist, one of the first plant researchers in Israel, head of department for Botanics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and co-founder of Jerusalem Botanical Gardens on Mount Scopus.