Launaea angustifolia, Launaea arabica, Launaea foxii, Arabian launea,
Hebrew: לוניאה צרת-עלים, Arabic: حوة ضيقة الأوراق الحوة ضيقة الأوراق لات
Scientific name:  Launaea angustifolia (Desf.) O.Kuntze
Synonym name:  Launaea arabica (Boiss.) H.Lindb., Launaea foxii (Post) Dinsmore
Common name:  Arabian launea
Hebrew name:  לוניאה צרת-עלים
Arabic name:  حوة ضيقة الأوراق الحوة ضيقة الأوراق لات
Family:  Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים

Flowers of the Holy Land
Location: Aravah

Life form:  Therophyte, annual
Succulence:  Leaf succulent
Stems:  10-30 cm high; ascending, glabrous, usually branched above; the stems contain a milky juice
Leaves:  Alternate, entire, incised-dentate ending in a hard white mucro, succulent
Inflorescence:  Flower heads at stem apices
Flowers:  Yellow, 4 cm in diameter
Fruits / pods:  Achene, 3 cm long, quadrangular, each side bearing a dense white pappus of hairs, 4-5mm long
Flowering Period:   February, March, April
Habitat:   Desert, Thermophilous plants
Distribution:   Semi-steppe shrublands, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:  Saharo-Arabian
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral

Launaea angustifolia, Launaea arabica, Arabian launea, לוניאה צרת-עלים
Location: Aravah


Derivation of the botanical name:
Launaea, named after French lawyer Jean Claude Mien Mordant de Launay (c.1750-1816).
angustifolia, Latin angusti-, narrow; narrow-leaved.
arabica, of Arabia.
foxii, for Walter Fox (1858 – 1934) of Kew, England.
The Hebrew name: לוניאה, Launaea, a transliteration from the scientific name.
  • The standard author abbreviation Desf. is used to indicate René Louiche Desfontaines (1750 – 1833), a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation O.Kuntze is used to indicate Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (1843 – 1907), a German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.
  • The standard author abbreviation H.Lindb. is used to indicate Harald Lindberg (1871 - 1963), a Finnish botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Post is used to indicate George Edward Post (1838 - 1909), a Pioneer Botanist of the Middle East. He wrote the first flora of the Middle East, published in 1884, and was a professor of surgery at the Syrian Protestant College from 1868 until his death.
  • The standard author abbreviation Dinsmore is used to indicate John Edward Dinsmore (1862 - 1951), who moved from Maine to Jerusalem in the 1890's to join a Protestant commune called The American Colony. John Edward Dinsmore revised 'The Flora of Syrya, Palestine and Sinai' by George Edward Post, published in 1932 by the American University of Beirut.