Scientific name: | Trifolium pilulare Boiss. | |
Common name: | Ball cotton clover | |
Hebrew name: | תלתן הכדורים | |
Arabic name: | النفل الحبّي | |
Plant Family: | Papilionaceae, פרפרניים |
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Life form: | Therophyte, annual | |
Stems: | 6-25 cm in height; erect or decumbent, densely hairy stems; branching from the base | |
Leaves: | Alternate, compound, trifoliate | |
Flowers: | White | |
Fruits / pods: | ovoid pods hidden under a dense cluster of sterile flowers forming a fruitbearing head, similar to cotton; seeds, rounded, black, smooth | |
Flowering Period: | February, March, April, May | |
Habitat: | Batha, Phrygana | |
Distribution: | Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon | |
Chorotype: | Mediterranean | |
Summer shedding: | Ephemeral |
Derivation of the botanical name: Trifolium, Latin tri, tres, three; folium, leaf; three-leaved. pilulare, pill-like, gland-like; with globular fruit. The Hebrew name: תלתן, taltan, clover, trefoil, from tlat (Aramaic) three; the clover is recalled in the Mishnah Kilayim 2:5, "[a field} of clover among which grew up..."
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