Piptatherum thomasii, Piptatherum miliaceum,
Millet grass, נשרן צפוף

Scientific name:  Piptatherum thomasii (Duby) Kunth
Synonym name:  Piptatherum miliaceum (L.) Coss. var. thomasii (Duby) Freitag
Common name:  Millet grass
Hebrew name:  נשרן צפוף
Family:   Graminea (Poaceae), Grass Family, משפחת הדגניים

Piptatherum thomasii, Piptatherum miliaceum, Millet grass, נשרן צפוף

Life form:  Hemicryptophyte
Stems:  Culms often branched
Leaves:  Alternate, rosette, entire
Inflorescence:  Panicle; spikelets with 1 bisexual lemma, rhachilla (=a branch of inflorescence) articulated above the glumes
Flowers:  Green
Fruits / pods:  Caryopses
Flowering Period:   February, March, April, May, June, July
Habitat:  Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands
Chorotype:  Mediterranean
Summer shedding:  Perennating

Flora of Israel online, Native plants, Palestine


Derivation of the botanical name:
Piptatherum, pipto, "to fall", and ather, "stalk".
thomasii, after Major George Henry Thomas (1816 - 1870), stationed at Fort Yuma about 1850, and later as a general a Civil War hero called the Rock of Chickamauga.
miliaceum, pertaining to millet; millet-like.
The Hebrew name: נשרן, nasran, formed from נשר, nashar (=to fall out).
  • The standard author abbreviation Duby is used to indicate Jean Étienne Duby (1798 – 1885), a Swiss Evangelical priest in Geneve and botanist (worked on cryptogams).
  • The standard author abbreviation Kunth is used to indicate Carl Sigismund Kunth (1788 – 1850), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation Coss. is used to indicate Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (1819 – 1889), a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Freitag is used to indicate Helmut Freitag (born Berlin 1932), a German botanist

Piptatherum thomasii, Piptatherum miliaceum, Millet grass, נשרן צפוף