Muscari commutatum, Dark Grape Hyacinth,
Hebrew: כדן סגול, Arabic: بصل الحيّة

Scientific name:  Muscari commutatum Guss.
Common name:  Dark Grape Hyacinth
Hebrew name:   כדן סגול
Arabic name:   بصل الحيّة
Family:  Liliaceae, שושניים

Flora of Israel, wildflowers and native plants

Life form:  Geophyte
Stems:  Erect flower stalk, unbranched scape, hirsute
Leaves:  Rosette, sessile, parallel venation, linear, entire margin
Inflorescence:  Raceme
Flowers:  Corolla, purple, 6 fused tepals, urn shaped, small opening with 6 tiny black teeth at its outer end
Fruits / pods:  Capsule, dehiscent loculicidal capsule, green, changes beige when ripe and dry; seed, spherical-oval, black
Flowering Period:   January, February, March, December
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Med - Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:
Muscari, grape-hyacint; Greek moschus, musk; an allusion to the sweet scent of some species. Umberto Quattrocchi says: A Turkish name recorded by Clusius in 1583. Latin muscus, i "moss, musk."
commutatum, commuto, to change, to exchange; changeable.
The Hebrew name: כדן, kadan, hyacinth.
  • The standard author abbreviation Guss. is used to indicate Giovanni Gussone (1787 – 1866), an Italian botanist.