Plants of the Bible: Scolymus hispanicus

Scolymus hispanicus, Spanish oyster plant,
Spanish Golden-thistle, Hebrew: חוח ספרדי, Arabic: سنارية معمرة

Scientific name:   Scolymus hispanicus L.
Common name:   Spanish oyster plant, Spanish Golden-thistle
Hebrew name:   חוח ספרדי
Arabic name:   سنارية معمرة
Plant Family:   Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים


Life form:   Hemicryptophyte
Spinescence:   Leaves, bracts
Succulence:   Leaf succulent
Stems:   5-250 cm long, branched at the top, with discontinuous spiny, dentate wings
Leaves:   Alternate, rosette, spinescent, dissected once, dentate or serrate, spinescent
Flowers:   Orange, spinescent bracts
Fruits / pods:   Achenes 2-3 mm with a pappus that has a short corona
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:

Scolymus, Greek skolymus, an artichoke. This is also the name used by Pliny for the Spanish oyster-plant,

hispanicus, Spanish.
The Hebrew name: חוח, hah, brier, thorn; related to Aramaic: חוחא, hoha; Akkadian: hàh ( = thorn), hahhu, hàyahu ( = thorn).

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

Hoah, חוח = briar, thistle; thorn. Scolymus [Song of Solomon 2:2 Like a lily among thorns (Keshoshana Ben Hachochim, כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה בֵּין הַחוֹחִים) is my darling among the young women] Bible Resources:

  1. 2 Kings 14:9
    But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot.
  2. 2 Chronicles 25:18
    But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot.
  3. 2 Chronicles 33:11
    So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
  4. Job 31:40
    then let briers come up instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.”
  5. Job 41:2
    Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook?
  6. Hosea 9:6
    Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents.
  7. Song 2:2
    Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.
  8. Isaiah 34:13
    Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls.
  9. Proverbs 26:9
    Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
  10. 1 Samuel 13:6
    When the Israelites saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns.