Israel wildflowers: Golden rod

Bongardia chrysogonum, Leontice chrysogonum, Bongardia rauwolfia,Golden rod, Lady’s nightcap,

Hebrew: כרבולתן השדות, Arabic: عريفة الديك، رجل الديك

Scientific name:   Bongardia chrysogonum (L.) Griseb.
Synonym name:   Bongardia olivieri C.A.Mey., Bongardia rauwolfii C.A.Mey., Leontice chrysogonum L.
Common name:   Golden rod, Lady’s nightcap
Hebrew name:   כרבולתן השדות
Arabic name:   عريفة الديك، رجل الديك
Family:   Berberidaceae, ערטניתיים


Life form:   Geophyte
Stems:   Branched, blue-green stems
Leaves:   All leaves basal, appearing from upper part of tuber, with long flexuous petioles
Flowers:   Hermaphrodite; 5 petals, yellow
Fruits / pods:   Fruit inflated, pleated, indehiscent; seeds 2–3, globose, 3–5 mm diameter, without strophiole
Flowering Period:   February, March
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral
Protected Flower, צמח מוגן:   No


Derivation of the botanical name:

Bongardia, named in honor of August G.H.Bongard (1786 – 1839), a German botanist

chrysogonum, chrysos, χρυσοϛ, gold; gone, γονη, origin, birth, conception; golden start.
olivieri, named in honor of Olivier Guillaume Antoine (1756 – 1814), a French naturalist.
rauwolfia, named in honor of Leonhard Rauwolf (1535 – 1596), a German physician, botanist and traveller.
Leontice, leon, λεων, οντιϛ, a lion; Lion’s footprint (the shape of the leaf).
The Hebrew name: כרבולתן השדות, Carbultan hasadot, carbolet, a cock’s comb; hasadot, the fields.

  • 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 Griseb. is used to indicate August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach (1814 –1879), a German botanist and phytogeographer.
  • The standard author abbreviation C.A.Mey. is used to indicate Carl Anton von Meyer (1795 – 1855), a Russian botanist and explorer.