Israel wildflowers: Few-flower clover

Trifolium pauciflorum, Few-flower clover,
Hebrew: תלתן דל-פרחים, Arabic: النفل قليل الأزهار

Scientific name:   Trifolium pauciflorum d’Urv.
Common name:   Few-flower clover
Hebrew name:   תלתן דל-פרחים
Arabic name:   النفل قليل الأزهار
Plant Family:   Papilionaceae, פרפרניים


Life form:   Therophyte, annual
Leaves:   Alternate, compound, trifoliate
Flowers:   Violet
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Trifolium, Latin tri, tres, three; folium, leaf; three-leaved.

pauciflorum, with few flowers.
The Hebrew name: תלתן, taltan, clover, trefoil, from tlat (Aramaic) three; the clover is recalled in the Mishnah Kilayim 2:5, “[a field} of clover among which grew up…”

  • The standard author abbreviation d’Urv. is used to indicate Admiral Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville (1790 – 1842, a French explorer, cartographer, botanist, linguist, writer.