Scientific name: | Artemisia monosperma Delile | |
Synonym name: | Artemisia deliliana Besser, Artemisia inculta Sieber ex DC. | |
Hebrew name: | לענה חד-זרעית | |
Arabic name: | عدار-عاذر | |
Egypt: | ليل | |
Family: | Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים |
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Life form: | Chamaephyte | |
Succulence: | Leaf succulent | |
Stems: | Glaucous glabrous low shrub, 40-120cm; stems numerous branched, erect or ascending suculate | |
Leaves: | Succulent, alternate, dissected, smooth | |
Flowers: | Monoecious, yellow | |
Fruits / pods: | Achenes | |
Flowering Period: | September, October, November, December | |
Habitat: | Sand | |
Distribution: | Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts | |
Chorotype: | Saharo-Arabian | |
Summer shedding: | perennating |
Derivation of the botanical name: Artemisia, Ἀρτεμισία, referring to the Greek goddess Artemis who so benefited from a plant of this family that she gave it her own name. Plants described by Dioscorides & Pliny like wormword or mugwort from which the genus name Artemisia is taken. An alternative possibility for the derivation of this name is that it comes from Queen Artemisia II of Caria, sister and wife of King Mausolus, who ruled after his death from 352 to 350 BCE. and built during her short reign one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, which she unfortunately did not live to see the completion of. monosperma, monos μονοϛ,alone, only; forsaken; sperma σπερμα, seed, germ; single seeded. The Hebrew word: לענה, la`anah, from Arabic root meaning to curse.
Artemisia monosperma is a species in which germination is regulated by the location of the seed below the sand surface. Important is the location of the seed in the soil, the soil water content and the light requirement of the achenes. |