Israel flowers: Yellow Milk Vetch

Astragalus boeticus, Yellow Milk Vetch, Swedish coffee,
Triangular-podded milkvetch,Hebrew: קדד ספרדי, Arabic: القتاد البيوتي

Scientific name:   Astragalus boeticus L.
Common name:   Yellow Milk Vetch, Swedish coffee, Triangular-podded milkvetch
Hebrew name:   קדד ספרדי
Arabic name:   القتاد البيوتي
Family:   Fabaceae or Papilionaceae, Legume/Pea Family, הפרפרניים


Life form:   Annual
Stems:   Erect or sprawling, to 60 cm, caulescent, procumbent
Leaves:   Alternate, compound, 10-15 pairs of leaflets, pinnate, hairy beneath
Inflorescence:   Dense racemes with 5-15 flowers
Flowers:   Yellow corolla
Fruits / pods:   Pod 2-4cm, oblong, triangular in section, grooved beneath, hooked at apex, shortly hairy; seeds, roasted, ground, are used as a substitute for coffee
Flowering Period:   February, March, April
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Astragalus, ἀστραγαλος, literally signifies a huckle bone (talus), a small bone of the ankle; astragalus, which the Greeks, as well as the Romans, used for dice and other purposes and an early name applied to some plants in this family, with vertebra-like knotted roots.

boeticus, Boeoticus, Βοιωτικοϛ from Boeotia, from Boeotia, near Athens, the birthplace of Hercules and Bacchus.
The Hebrew word: קדד, kedad, related to Akkadian (the earliest attested Semitic language; qadādu (= to lean, bend, incline), from Arabic qudad.

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.