Scientific name: | Bellardia trixago (L.) All. | |
Synonym name: | Bartsia trixago L. | |
Common name: | Mediterranean linseed | |
Hebrew name: | עלוק מצוי | |
Arabic vernacular name: | شثٗ اٌّرطفً الأطفر | |
Plant Family: | Scrophulariaceae, לועניתיים |
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Life form: | Parasite | |
Stems: | 30-50 cm tall; pubescent with stiff hairs | |
Leaves: | Opposite above, sessile, linear to lanceolate, 0.6- 3.6 in (1.5-9 cm) long, with coarsely dentate to crenate margins | |
Flowers: | Corolla pale purple, its lower lip white | |
Fruits / pods: | Ovoid, loculicidal capsule; Seeds many, ridged, more or less oblong | |
Flowering Period: | March, April, May | |
Habitat: | Batha, Phrygana | |
Distribution: | Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes | |
Chorotype: | Mediterranean | |
Summer shedding: | Ephemeral |
Derivation of the botanical name: Bellardia named after Carlo Antonio Lodovico Bellardi (1741-1826), professor of botany at Turin, Italy (ref. genus Bellardia) trixago, trix could derive from trix (thrix), "a hair," or trixos "three-fold," inasmuch as B. trixago is a glandular-hairy plant, and it was apparently an old name for some plant possibly of the mint family (ref. Bellardia trixago). Bartsia, named after Swedish botanist Dr Bartoch, close friend of Carolus. Linnaeus. The Hebrew name: עלוק, alouk from עלוקה, aluka, leech, sticky; the whole plant is covered with glandular hairs, which produce a sticky fluid.
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