Stellaria media, Alsine media, Stellaria Apetala,
Common Chickweed, Hebrew: כוכבית מצויה, Arabic: حشيشة القزاز
Scientific name:  Stellaria media (L.) Vill.
Synonym name:  Alsine media L., Stellaria Apetala Ucria ex Roem.
Common name:  Common Chickweed
Hebrew name:  כוכבית מצויה
Arabic name:  حشيشة القزاز
Plant Family:  Caryophyllaceae, ציפורניים

Stellaria media, Alsine media, Stellaria Apetala, Common Chickweed, כוכבית מצויה, حشيشة القزاز

Life form:  Therophyte, annual
Stems:  To 50cm long, 20-30cm tall, decumbent; fine hairs on only one side of the stem in a single band
Leaves:  Opposite, entire
Flowers:  5 white petals, shorter than the sepals and deeply incised nearly to their base, giving the appearance of flowers with 10 narrow petals; 5 sepals about 5 mm long, oblong-lanceolate in shape with obtuse to acute tips
Fruits / pods:  Capsule, glabrous, with about 15 seeds; seeds 1mm in diameter, tuberculate, rotund
Flowering Period:   January, February, March, April
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands
Chorotype:   Plurireginalbor-trop
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral

פרחים וצמחי בר בארץ ישראל, תמונות
Location: Betah Mountain, Western Galilee


Derivation of the botanical name:
Stellaria, Latin stella, "star,", referring to the star-shaped flowers.
media, in the middle, between; intermediate.
Alsine, αλσινη, a name used by Theophrastus & Dioscorides, variously thought to be chickweed (Stellaria media or nemorum).
Apetala, πεταλον, petalum; a, abs, away from; without petals.
The Hebrew name: כוכבית, cochavit, translation of the scientific name, which derives from Latin stella (כוכב, cochav, =star).
  • 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 Vill. is used to indicate Dominique Villars (1745 – 1814),a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Ucria is used to indicate Bernardino da Ucria (1739 – 1796), a Sicilian friar and botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Roem. is used to indicate Johann Jacob Roemer (1763 – 1819), a Swiss physician, professor of botany, and entomologist.

Stellaria media, Common Chickweed, כוכבית מצויה
Location: Betah Mountain, Western Galilee