Palestine Lupine

Lupinus palaestinus, Palestine Lupine,
Hebrew: תורמוס ארץ-ישראלי, Arabic: الترمس الفلسطيني

Scientific name:   Lupinus palaestinus Boiss.
Common name:   Palestine Lupine
Hebrew name:   תורמוס ארץ-ישראלי
Arabic name:   الترمس الفلسطيني
Plant Family:   Papilionaceae, פרפרניים


Life form:   Annual
Stems:   Up to 124cm high (the tallest of the Lupinus plants), always pubescent, sparsely sericeous
Leaves:   Alternate, compound, digitate (shaped like a spread hand)
Inflorescence:   Raceme 26 cm (longest inflorescence)
Flowers:   Light blue, lilach, white
Fruits / Pods:   Legume 70-160 x 10-20 mm, 3 – 6 seeded
Flowering Period:   February, March, April
Habitat:   Sand
Distribution:   The Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Lupinus, Latin lupus, “wolf,” alluding to the belief that these plants destroyed the fertility of the soil, which is the oppposite of the truth; the seeds are eaten in eastern Mediterranean countries.

palaestinus, from Palestine.
The Hebrew name: תורמוס, turmos, from Greek: thermos (= Lupinus albus), which is probably identical with thermos (= warm, hot), which is related to therme (=heat).

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