Antirrhinum orontium, Misopates orontium, Small Snapdragon,
לוע-ארי קטן
 
Scientific name:  Antirrhinum orontium L.
Synonym name:  Misopates orontium L. ׂ
Common name:  Small Snapdragon
Hebrew name:   לועית קטנה,לוע-ארי קטן
Family:  Scrophulariaceae, לועניתיים

Antirrhinum orontium, Misopates orontium, Small Snapdragon, לוע-ארי קטן
Date Picture Taken: March 22, 2008

 
Life form:  Annual
Leaves:  Alternate, entire
Flowers:  Pink
Flowering Period:   January, February, March, April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:
Antirrhinum, from Greek anti (αντι), "like," and rhis (ριϛ, ινοϛ), "nose", inus (-ινοϛ), probably referring to the nose-like capsule in its mature state.
orontium seems to be derived from Latin oro, "to speak", "to plea", "to beg", which may have something to do with the mouth-like form of the flower.
Misopates, according to Corneliuson (1997) is derived from Greek misos, "to hate" and patein, "to step on", (the author of the name seems to hate to step on that beautiful little plant).
The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.