Erodium cicutarium,
Redstem Filaree, Common stork's-bill, Hemlock geranium,
Hebrew: מקור-חסידה גזור, Arabic: الرقمة الشوكرانية

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

Erodium cicutarium, Redstem Filaree, Common stork's-bill, Hemlock geranium,מקור-חסידה גזור, الرقمة الشوكرانية

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

Erodium cicutarium, Redstem Filaree, Common stork's-bill, Hemlock geranium,מקור-חסידה גזור


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.
  • 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 L’Hér. is used to indicate Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle (1746 – 1800), a French botanist and magistrate.