Israel wildflowers: Galilee orchid

Orchis galilaea, Galilee orchid,
Hebrew: סחלב הגליל, Arabic: السحلب الجليلي


Scientific name:		Orchis galilaea (Bornm. et Schulze) Schltr.
Common name:		Galilee orchid
Hebrew name:		סחלב הגליל
Arabic: name:		السحلب الجليلي
Family:		Orchidaceae, סחלביים

_{Location: Jerusalem Mountains}


Life form:		Geophyte
Leaves:		Alternate, rosette, entire, smooth
Flowers:		White
Flowering Period:		February, March, April
Habitat:		Maquis
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:		Mediterranean
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral
Protected Flower, צמח מוגן:		Yes

_{Location: Jerusalem Mountains}
Derivation of the botanical name:

Orchis, ορχιϛ, “testicle” (here, shape of), from the rootform of some species. For that reason, Orchis has been regarded since antiquity as an aphrodisiac.

galilaea, “Galilee”; of Galilee, Israel.
The Hebrew name: סחלב, sahlav, Arabic sahlab, corrupted from tha’lab in husa al-tha’lab (=the fox’s testicles), the Arabic name of the tubers of the Orchis mascula (so called from the resemblance of the roots to testicles).

The standard author abbreviation Bornm. is used to indicate Joseph Friedrich Nicolaus Bornmüller (1862 – 1948), a German botanist.
The standard author abbreviation M.Schulze is used to indicate Carl Theodor Maximilian (Max) Schulze (1841 – 1915), a German pharmacist, botanist, and orchid specialist.
The standard author abbreviation Schltr. is used to indicate Rudolf Schlechter (1872 – 1925), a German taxonomist, botanist, and author of several works on orchids.

_{Location: Jerusalem Mountains}