Plants in Israel: Goatgrass

Aegilops biuncialis, Aegilops lorentii, Goatgrass,
Hebrew: בן-חיטה דל-שיבולת, Arabic: حشبش الغنم أو الفار

Scientific name:   Aegilops biuncialis Vis.
Scientific name:   Aegilops lorentii Hochst.
Common name:   Goatgrass
Hebrew name:   בן-חיטה דל-שיבולת
Arabic name:   حشبش الغنم أو الفار
Family:   Graminea (Poaceae), Grass Family, משפחת הדגניים


Life form:   Annual
Stems:   Numerous; 5-10 (30)cm
Leaves:   Alternate, entire, smooth, ciliate, sheats sparsely hairy below
Inflorescence:   Spikes with 2-3(-4) spikelets
Flowers:   Green, lodicules 2, ovary pubescent on apex
Fruits / pods:   Caryopsis with adherent pericarp; hairy at apex
Flowering Period:   April, May, June
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   The Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Summer shedding   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Aegilops, from the Greek aegilos (a herb liked by goats, or a goat), with ‘goatlike’ (referring to whiskery-awned spikelets), literally, “goat in the eye”.

biuncialis, bi, bis, twice; uncialis, one twelfth, one inch; meaning one sixth, two inches.
The Hebrew word:,בן-חיטה, ben-chita , close to wheat, chita.

  • The standard author abbreviation Vis. is used to indicate Roberto de Visiani (1800 – 1878), an Italian botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Hochst. is used to indicate Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter (1787–1860, a German botanist.

Wild wheat (Tricium dicoccum) was formed from the hybridization of two ancient species that naturally occurred 500-300,000 years ago. During domestication, another hybrid was created between wild wheat and another species of oats with seven pairs of chromosomes, referred to as “Aegilops tauschii”. This wheat, after other and smaller changes, became the bread wheat we now know.