Plants of the Bible: Distaff Thistle

Carthamus glaucus, Carthamus syriacus, Kentrophyllum syriacum, Distaff Thistle, Glaucous Star Thistle,

Hebrew: קורטם מכחיל, Arabic: عصفر

Scientific name:   Carthamus glaucus M.Bieb.
Synonym name:   Carthamus syriacus (Boiss.) Dinsm., Carthamus syriacus (Boiss.) Čelak., Kentrophyllum syriacum Boiss
Common name:   Distaff Thistle, Glaucous Star Thistle
Hebrew name:   קורטם מכחיל
Arabic name:   عصفر
Family:   Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים


Life form:   Glandular annual
Spinescence:   Leaves, bracts
Spinescence:   Leaves, bracts
Stems:   Lanate-villous and sparsely arachnoid indumentumWith brownish to purplish spots
Leaves:   Basal leaves with up to 6 pairs of lobes; culine leaves lanceolate, pinnatifid with spiny margin
Inflorescence:   Capitula solitary on stems and branches; 13-15mm in diameter, ovoid
Flowers:   Hermaphtodite; corolla pinkish – purple, the lobes 4.5-6.5mm
Fruits / pods:   Achenes 3.5-4mm
Flowering Period:   May, June, July, August
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt.Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Carthamus, from the Arabic verb qurtum [قرطم] “dye”, in reference to the usage of safflower flowers for textile dyeing.

glaucus, γλαυκοϛ bright, sparkling, gleaming; grayish, bluish-green (for plants, a white bloom on a leaf giving a gray-green appearance).
Kentrophyllum, Greek kentron spur, spur-like leaf.

  • The standard author abbreviation M.Bieb. is used to indicate Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein (1768–1826), a German botanist and early explorer of the flora and archaeology of the southern portion of Imperial Russia, including the Caucasus and Novorossiya.
  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.

Gustaf Hermann Dalman (1855 – 1941), a German Lutheran theologian and orientalist, is of the opinion that the plant mentioned in Genesis 3:18 and Hosea 10:8 was probably Carthamus glaucus M.Bieb..
Bible resources:

  1. Genesis 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field’.
  2. Hosea 10:8 The high places of wickedness[a] will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars.

    Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!