Plants of the Bible: Aegilops peregrina

Aegilops peregrina, Aegilops variabilis, Goatgrass,
Hebrew: בן-חיטה רב-אנפין, Arabic: دوسر أجنبي

Scientific name:  Aegilops peregrina (Hackel) Maire et Weiler
Synonym name:  Aegilops variabilis Eig
Common name:  Goatgrass
Hebrew name:   בן-חיטה רב-אנפין
Arabic name:  دوسر أجنبي
Plant Family:   Graminea (Poaceae), Grass Family, משפחת הדגניים

Israel, Flowers, Wildflowers, Pictures

Life form:  Therophyte annual
Stems:  Numerous stems, up to 40cm
Leaves:  Alternate, entire, glabrous or shortly hairy, smooth margin
Inflorescence:  Spike 1.5-3.5cm (excluding awns)
Flowers:  Green; glumes usually with 1 long awn; lower glume with all veins narrow and equal in width
Fruits / pods:  Caryopsis with adherent pericarp; hairy at apex
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral

Aegilops peregrina, Aegilops variabilis, Goatgrass, בן-חיטה רב-אנפין


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".
peregrina, peregrin, "foreign".
variabilis, variabil, "variable".
  • The standard author abbreviation Hackel is used to indicate Eduard Hackel (1850 – 1926), an Austrian agrostologist (specialist in grasses).
  • The standard author abbreviation Maire is used to indicate René Charles Joseph Ernest Maire (1878 — 1949), a French botanist and mycologist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Eig. is used to indicate Alexander Eig (1894 – 1938), a botanist, one of the first plant researchers in Israel, head of department for Botanics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and co-founder of Jerusalem Botanical Gardens on Mount Scopus.
The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:11 is "deshe", דשא. The word "grass" occurs 48 times in the Bible and about 460 different kinds of grasses are recorded from the Holy Land area by George E. Post (Flora of Syria, Palestine and Sinai; 1933).

Bible resources:
  1. Genesis 1:11-12
    And God said, Let the earth put forth grass... and the earth brought forth grass...

פרחים וצמחי בר בארץ ישראל


Aegilops peregrina, Aegilops variabilis, Goatgrass, בן-חיטה רב-אנפין