Raphanus raphanistrum (wild radish)

Derivation of the botanical name:

Raphanus, Greek raphanos, “quick-appearing” because of the rapid germination of the seeds.

raphanistrum, Latin from Greek rhaphanis, “radish.”

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

Herodotus, Greek historian (approx. 484 B.C-425 BCE), wrote that pyramidbuilders received their pay in ‘radishes, onions and garlic’. In Egypt, Raphanus was used as a vegetable and a medicine.

Pliny (23-79 CE), Natural History, Book XIV.XXVI.78-88 : ‘In Egypt the radish is held in remarkable esteem because it produces oil, which they make from its seed. The people are very fond of sowing radish seed if opportunity offers, because they make more profit from it than from corn and have a smaller duty to pay on it, and because no plant there yields a larger supply of oil. …and in Egypt, where they are remarkeble for sweetness’. He also quotes the Egyptians for using it for medical purposes.

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}