# Trying to identify an Israeli weed

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-an-israeli-weed/742328>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 6, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-an-israeli-weed/742328 "2016-01-06T16:03:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-an-israeli-weed/742328/1 "2016-01-06T16:03:16Z")

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[The plant.](https://www.flickr.com/photos/9624983@N05/23808973189/in/album-72157663179681366/)

Things I found out about it in Israel:

1. It’s pretty common.
2. It grows, at the very least, around Jerusalem. Don’t remember if I saw it in the north or not.
3. It’s edible if you rip off the spines along the edges.

Things I’ve found about it on Google:

1. 
2. 
3. One picture. _One._ Which led to a research paper in a locked database. So no help there.

Anyhoo, I trust from experience that y’all are smarter than Google’s algorithms. (At the very least, you know the difference between ID’ing weeds and looking to buy weed). Id’ really appreciate being able to put a name to it in English.

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-an-israeli-weed/742328/2 "2016-01-06T17:10:41Z")

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[Cyclamen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclamen), maybe?

If that’s it, then it’s a very common and quite beloved plant. It’s also a protected flower, which means that picking it is illegal.

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**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-an-israeli-weed/742328/3 "2016-01-06T17:19:55Z")

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It looks like Milk thistle (Silybum) wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silybum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silybum), [images](https://www.google.ch/search?q=milk+thistle&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjP_KjH2JXKAhXEFiwKHRqLAPoQ_AUIBygB&biw=1153&bih=1266#tbm=isch&q=milk+thistle+leaves)

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**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-an-israeli-weed/742328/4 "2016-01-06T17:44:09Z")

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> [@Anaglyph](#):
>
> It looks like Milk thistle (Silybum) wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silybum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silybum), [images](https://www.google.ch/search?q=milk+thistle&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjP_KjH2JXKAhXEFiwKHRqLAPoQ_AUIBygB&biw=1153&bih=1266#tbm=isch&q=milk+thistle+leaves)

That looks about right. The timing for it to not have flowers is right, too.