Israel wildflowers: Alyssum strigosum

Alyssum strigosum, Alyssum minus, Alyssum,
Hebrew: אליסון זיפני ,אליסון מצוי, Arabic: الأليس الهزيل

Scientific name:   Alyssum strigosum Banks & Sol.
Synonym name:   Alyssum minus (L.) Rothm. var. strigosum (Banks & Sol.) Zohary
Common name:   Alyssum
Hebrew name:   אליסון זיפני ,אליסון מצוי
Arabic name:   الأليس الهزيل
Family:   Cruciferae / Brassicaceae, מצליבים


Life form:   Annual
Stems:   Ascending, up to 40 cm tall
Leaves:   Alternate, entire, smooth
Flowers:   Yellow
Fruits / pods:   4–5 mm, round; hairs of 2 kinds (once-forked, and stellate); generally glabrous; seed winged
Flowering Period:   January, February, March
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Alyssum, alysson, αλυσσον, Greek, a, not or against; lyssa, rage or madness; a plant described by Discoroides that cures hiccups, by others to heal madness and rabies.

strigosum, striga, a straight rigid close pressed rather short bristle-like hair, strigosus, covered with strigae; bristled
minus, less; smaller.
The Hebrew word: אליסון, alysson, transliteration from New Latin, from Latin, from ălyssŏn, from Ancient Greek ἄλυσσον (alusson).

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation Rothm. is used to indicate Werner Hugo Paul Rothmaler (1908 – 1962), a German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Banks is used to indicate Joseph Banks (1743 – 1820), an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences.
  • The standard author abbreviation Sol. is used to indicate Daniel Solander (1733 – 1782), a Swedish botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Zohary is used to indicate Michael Zohary (1898 – 1983), a pioneering Israeli botanist.