Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Zygophyllum fabago

Zygophyllum fabago

9.9
A shrub that lives many years from the eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia with flower buds sometimes pickled as capers
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : Zygophyllum fabago
  • The flower buds of Zygophyllum fabago are sometimes pickled and used as an alternative to capers.

Examples

  • Zygophyllum fabago grows in dry, rocky soils throughout the eastern Mediterranean region.

  • Researchers have studied the medicinal properties of Zygophyllum fabago in local traditional remedies.

  • The Zygophyllum fabago grows abundantly in arid regions.

  • I learned about Zygophyllum fabago in my botany class.

  • The flower buds of Zygophyllum fabago are sometimes pickled and used as an alternative to capers.

  • Zygophyllum fabago grows in dry, rocky soils throughout the eastern Mediterranean region.

  • Researchers have studied the medicinal properties of Zygophyllum fabago in local traditional remedies.

Synonyms

Syrian bean caper
vsZygophyllum fabago
9.9

A bush from the eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia whose flower buds are used as capers in cooking

is the scientific name used in botanical contexts
bean caper
vsZygophyllum fabago
8.7

A small bush whose pickled flower buds are used in cooking

is the scientific name used in botanical contexts

Surface Forms

Zygophyllum fabago singular
Zygophyllum fabagos plural

Morphology

Zygophyllum + fabago

This is a Latin binomial (genus + species): knowing 'Zygophyllum' as a plant genus lets a learner infer the expression refers to a plant species, so part of the meaning (that it is a plant) is predictable. However, the specific properties given in the gloss (a perennial shrub, native range, buds used as capers) are not derivable from the constituents—'fabago' is not a transparent English word—so the overall meaning is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Zygophyllum fabago comes from old Greek and Latin words: zygo meaning 'yoke' and phyllum meaning 'leaf' because the plant's leaves grow in matching pairs, and fabago comes from 'faba' meaning 'bean' for its bean-like pods. So the name paints a simple picture of a small shrub with paired leaves and bean-like buds, and those buds are sometimes pickled and used like capers.