Scientific name: | Erodium cicutarium (L.) L’Hér. | |
Common name: | Redstem Filaree, Common stork's-bill, Hemlock geranium | |
Hebrew name: | מקור-חסידה גזור | |
Arabic name: | الرقمة الشوكرانية | |
Nederlandse naam: | Gewone reigersbek | |
Plant Family: | Geraniaceae, גרניים |
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Life form: | Therophyte, annual | |
Stems: | Usually caulescent, stalks 10-50 cm high; originating in the axils of the leaves; growing from a central taproot; stems reddish, leafy and hairy | |
Leaves: | Alternate, dissected twice or more, fern-like, hairy, most of the leaflets divided more than half-way to the midrib; seedlings have 3-lobed cotyledons | |
Florescence: | Borne on hairy stalks in umbrella-shaped clusters of 2-12 flowers | |
Flowers: | Bracts brownish; sepals, somewhat pointed and hairy; 5 pink petals | |
Fruits / pods: | Each seed is tipped with an elongated tail, which coils spirally at maturity, assisting the pointed seed in penetrating the soil; beak 10-70mm | |
Flowering Period: | February, March, April, May | |
Habitat: | Batha, Phrygana | |
Distribution: | Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts | |
Chorotype: | Euro-Siberian - Med - Irano-Turanian | |
Summer shedding: | Ephemeral |
Derivation of the botanical name: Erodium, Greek: erodiós or ερωδιός, a heron; the carpels of these plants resemble the head and beak of a heron. cicutarium, cicuta, hemlock, poison from the hemlock; arius, connected to or possessed by; pertaining to hemlock. The Hebrew word: מקור-חסידה, makor chasida / stork beak, is a mistake in the translation (chasida means stork). In Greek, the stork is called Πελασγός pelargos, pelargonium.
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