Israel wildflowers: Pink Sun-rose

Helianthemum vesicarium, Pink Sun-rose,
Hebrew: שמשון השלחופיות ,שמשון הדור, Arabic: الرقروق المثاني


Scientific name:		Helianthemum vesicarium Boiss.
Common name:		Pink Sun-rose
Hebrew name:		שמשון השלחופיות ,שמשון הדור
Arabic name:		الرقروق المثاني
Plant Family:		Cistaceae, לוטמיים

_{Location: Road 3415, Gad Hills (Givad Gad)}


Life form:		Shrub
Stems:		Subshrubs
Leaves:		Deciduous; opposite, entire
Flowers:		Pink, purple, white, yellow
Fruits / Pods:		Capsules 3-carpellary, 3-valved, 3-many-seeded
Flowering Period:		January, February, March, April, May
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana, Shrub-steppes
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:		Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:		Perennating

Derivation of the botanical name:

Helianthemum, helios, sun; anthemon, a flower; sunflower.

vesicarium, vesica, a bladder; bladderlike, furnished with small bladders.
The Hebrew name: שמשון, shimshon, formed from שמש (=sun), with suffix -on; compare the scientific name Modern L. Helianthemum, which is compounded of Greek helios (= sun) and anthos ( ־ flower), compare Biblical Hebrew proper name שמשון (= Samson).

The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.

Helianthemum vesicarium grows only on north facing slopes in the Negev Highlands. In the more humid habitats of the Judean foothills the Helianthemum vesicarium appears on south facing slopes.

_{Location: Pura Nature Reserve, שמורת פורה}