Israel flowers: Narrow-Leaved Water-plantain

Alisma lanceolatum, Narrow-Leaved Water-plantain,
כף-צפרדע איזמלנית


Scientific name:		Alisma lanceolatum With.
Common name:		Narrow-Leaved Water-plantain
Hebrew name:		כף-צפרדע איזמלנית
Nederlandse naam:		Slanke waterweegbree
Family:		Alismataceae, Water-plantains, כף-הצפרדע


Life form:		Hemicryptophyte
Leaves:		Alternate, rosette, entire
Flowers:		Pink petals
Flowering Period:		March, April, May, June, July, August, September
Habitat:		Humid habitats
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:		Euro-Siberian – Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:		Perennating

Derivation of the botanical name:

Alisma, αλισμα, name for a water plant used by Dioscorides, and adopted by Carolus Linnaeus.

From halismos “movement of the sea,” from hals, halos “sea”.
lanceolatum, lancea, “lance, spear”, atus,”with, shaped, made”; meaning lance shaped.
The Hebrew word: כף-צפרדע, Kaf-Sphardea, (frog spoon); Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566), a German physician and botanist wrote, the water plantain would also be called “Froschlöffel” (frog spoon), because the leaves are shaped like spoons, and it would growing where frogs live.

The standard author abbreviation With. is used to indicate William Withering (1741 – 1799), an English botanist, geologist, chemist, physician and the discoverer of digitalis.