Israel wildflowers: Beer Sheva milk-vetch

Astragalus caprinus, Astragalus platyraphis, Astragalus alexandrinus, Astragalus beershabensis, Beer Sheva milk-vetch,

Hebrew: קדד באר שבע ,Arabic: القتاد الماعزي

Scientific name:   Astragalus caprinus L.
Synonym name:   Astragalus platyraphis Bge.,Astragalus alexandrinus Boiss., Astragalus beershabensis Eig & Sam.
Common name:   Beer Sheva milk-vetch
Hebrew name:   קדד באר שבע
Arabic name:   القتاد الماعزي
Family:   Fabaceae or Papilionaceae, Legume/Pea Family, הפרפרניים


Life form:   Hemicryptophyte
Stems:   No central stem, 11-16 cm high
Leaves:   Rosette, alternate, compound, pinnate, smooth margin,leaflets ciliate, stipule
Inflorescence:   Inflorescences sessile
Flowers:   Petals Yellow
Fruits / pods:   Legumes ovate, tumid, villose
Flowering Period:   February, March, April
Habitat:   Shrub-steppes
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Semi-steppe shrublands, Deserts
Chorotype:   Saharo-Arabian
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.

caprinus of a goat; in reference to the leaves of A. caprinus, the cilia; of which have been compared to a goat’s heard.
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.
  • The standard author abbreviation Bge. is used to indicate Alexander Andrejewitsch von Bunge (1803 – 1890), a Russian botanist and explorer.
  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), , a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.
  • 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.
  • The standard author abbreviation Sam. is used to indicate Gunnar Samuelsson (1885 – 1944), a Swedish professor of botany, Uppsala.