Trifolium purpureum, Purple Clover,
Hebrew: תלתן הארגמן, Arabic: نفل قرنفلي

Scientific name:  Trifolium purpureum Loisel.
Common name:  Purple Clover
Hebrew name:  תלתן הארגמן
Arabic name:   نفل قرنفلي
Plant Family:  Papilionaceae, פרפרניים

Flora of Israel online, Native plants, Nature, Palestine

Life form:  Annual
Leaves:  Alternate, compound, trifoliate
Flowers:  Purple
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral

Trifolium purpureum, Purple Clover, תלתן הארגמן, برسيم


Derivation of the botanical name:
Trifolium, Latin tri, tres, three; folium, leaf; three-leaved.
purpureum, purple colored.
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..."
  • The standard author abbreviation Loisel. is used to indicate Jean Louis August Loiseleur-Deslongchamps (1774 – 1849), a French botanist.

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