Moluccella spinosa, Spiny molucca,
Hebrew: בר-גביע קוצני, Arabic: ذبيبينة شوكية
Scientific name:  Moluccella spinosa L.
Common name:   Spiny molucca
Hebrew name:   בר-גביע קוצני
Arabic name:  ذبيبينة شوكية
Family:  Labiatae / Lamiaceae, שפתניים

Flora of Israel, send flowers
Location: The Sharon Plain, Migdal Zedek tomb al-Sadiq

Life form:  Therophyte, annual
Spinescence:  Flowers
Stems:  30-100 cm
Leaves:  Opposite, entire, ovate to orbicular-ovate, coursly serrate or incised
Inflorescence:  Verticillasterss 6- to 10-flowered, distant; bracteoles subulate, spinose, deflexed
Flowers:  Corolla, white, pink, villous
Fruits / pods:  Nutlets
Flowering Period:   April, May, June, July, August
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral

Moluccella spinosa,Spiny molucca, בר-גביע קוצני, ذبيبينة شوكية
Location: The Sharon Plain, Migdal Zedek tomb al-Sadiq


Derivation of the botanical name:
Moluccella, Shell-flower; derivation of the name is uncertain; some say: from the Indonesian Molucca Islands; Umberto Quattrocchi says: "Presumably from an Arabic word meaning "king" or a diminutive of Molucca."
spinosa, spiny.
The Hebrew name: בר-גביע, bar-gvia; בר, bar (= clean, pure); גביע (= cup, goblet; cup of a flower, calyx).
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

Moluccella spinosa,Spiny molucca, ذبيبينة شوكية ,בר-גביע קוצני
Location: The Sharon Plain, Migdal Zedek tomb al-Sadiq