Israel wildflowers: Swamp sea-lavender

Limonium narbonense, Limonium angustifolium, Limonium meyeri, Limonium vulgare, Statice limonium, Swamp sea-lavender,

Hebrew: עדעד הביצות, Arabic: البهمن

Scientific name:   Limonium narbonense Miller
Synonym name:   Limonium angustifolium (Tausch) Turrill, Limonium meyeriBoiss.) Kuntze, Limonium vulgare auct. non Miller, Statice limonium L.
Common name:   Swamp sea-lavender
Hebrew name:   עדעד הביצות
Arabic name:   البهمن
Family:   Plumbaginaceae, עפריתיים


Life form:   Hemicryptophyte
Stems:   30-50 cm high; flower stalks up to 100 cm
Leaves:   Alternate, rosette, entire; red, spine-like but soft distal part of leaves
Inflorescence:   A dense and big panicle
Flowers:   Purple; 5 petls
Fruits / pods:   Achenes
Flowering Period:   April, May, June, July, August
Habitat:   Salty habitats, Mediterranean strand
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Limonium, Greek leimon, a meadow; in allusion to the common habitat in salt meadows.

narbonense, Narbonne, South France.
angustifolium, having narrow leaves.
meyeri, for Carl Anton von Meyer (1795–1855), a Russian botanist and explorer.
vulgare, common.
Statice, Latin, an astringent plant; Greek statikos, causing to stand, astringent; Sea lavender.
The Hebrew name: עדעד, ad’ad , reduplication of עד: eternity, perpetuity; probably, like עד, derived from עדה and lit. meaning ‘progress in time’. According to some scholars, however, עד is related to Arabic ghad (= morning), taken in the sense ‘late future’.

  • The standard author abbreviation Miller is used to indicate Philip Miller (1691 – 1771), a botanist of Scottish descent.
  • The standard author abbreviation Tausch is used to indicate Ignaz Friedrich Tausch (1793 – 1848), a Bohemian botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Turrill. is used to indicate William Bertram Turrill (1890 – 1961, an English botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.
  • The standard author abbreviation Kuntze is used to indicate Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (1843 – 1907), a German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.