Chenolea arabica, Bassia arabica, Chenoleoides arabica,
Hebrew: כנולואה ערבית , בסיה ערבית, Arabic: قضقاض عربي لات

Scientific name:  Chenolea arabica ( Boiss.) Diagn. Pl. Orient
Synonym name:  Bassia arabica, Chenoleoides arabica
Common name:  Chenolea arabica
Hebrew name:  כנולואה ערבית , בסיה ערבית
Arabic name:   قضقاض عربي لات
Family:  Chenopodiaceae, Goosefoot family, סלקיים

Chenolea arabica, Bassia  arabica, Chenoleoides arabica, כנולואה ערבית,   قضقاض عربي لات

Life form:  Chamaephyte, perennial undershrub densely branched. 50-70 cm high, 20-30 cm diameter, lower branches decumbent.
Spinescence:  absent
Succulence:  leaf succulence
Stems:  In young stem the outline of stem in cross section is wavy terete, 0.9-1 mm diameter, hairy; hairs, multicellular, uniseriate, papillate covered with wavy cutine with swollen basal cell and acute apical cell.
Leaves:  Leaves pseudopetiolate, oblong-narrow ovate with obtuse tips, 18-30x1.2-2.5 mm.
Inflorescence:  Inflorescence spicate with only one sessile flower in the axil of leaf like bract.
Flowers:  Hermaphrodite, or by abortion, polygamous. Perigonium urn-shaped, with 5, short, fleshy, somewhat keeled, woolly lobes, becoming indurate; stamen 5, inserted at the bottom of the perigonium, anthers exerted; ovary ovate, style divided into 2, filiform lobes
Fruits / pods:  Fruiting perianth slightly enlarged with the lobes membranous. Seeds wide ovate, pale to dark brown
Flowering Period:  March, April, May, June, July
Habitat:  Salty habitats
Distribution:  Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts
Chorotype:  Saharo-Arabian
Summer shedding:  Perennating

Chenolea arabica, Bassia  arabica, Chenoleoides arabica, כנולואה ערבית,  قضقاض عربي لات


Derivation of the botanical name:
Chenolea, Greek χήνα, a goose, and λεία, a prey.
arabica, of Arabia.
  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Boissier, Pierre Edmond (1810-1885) , a Swiss prominent botanist, explorer and mathematician.

Chenolea arabica, Bassia  arabica, Chenoleoides arabica, כנולואה ערבית,  قضقاض عربي لات