Echium judaeum, Judean Viper's-bugloss,
Hebrew: עכנאי יהודה, Arabic: ححمحم الغور

Scientific name:		Echium judaeum Lacaita
Common name:		Judean Viper's-bugloss
Hebrew name:		עכנאי יהודה
Arabic name:		ححمحم الغور
Family:		Boraginaceae, זיפניים

Life form:		Therophyte, annual
Stems:		Erect, branching at the top
Leaves:		Alternate, entire
Flowers:		Blue, violet
Fruits / pods:		Nutlike fruit
Flowering Period:		March, April
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana, Shrub-steppes, Desert
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:		Mediterranean
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral

Derivation of the botanical name: Echium, echis, "a viper," the nutlets appearing to represent a viper's head. judaeum from Latin Judaeum, from Greek Ioudaios, from Aramaic jehudhai (Heb. y'hudi "Jew," from Y'hudah "Judah," lit. "celebrated," name of Jacob's fourth son and of the tribe descended from him; Jew. Bugloss(Greek origin), means ox tongue, apparently because of the roughness of the leaves. The hebrew word עכנאי, akhnai, by the foreign name echium, derived from echis, a viper. The standard author abbreviation Lacaita is used to indicate Charles Carmichael Lacaita (1853 - 1933), a British botanist and Liberal politician.