Flora of Israel | Sherardia arvensis

Sherardia arvensis, Little Field Madder, Spurwort,
Hebrew: ששית מצויה, Arabic: شيرردية الحقول

Scientific name:   Sherardia arvensis L.
Common name:   Little Field Madder, Spurwort
Hebrew name:   ששית מצויה
Arabic name:   شيرردية الحقول
Family:   Rubiaceae, פואתיים


Life form:   Therophyte, annual
Leaves:   Whorled, entire
Flowers:   Lilach, pink
Flowering Period:   March, April
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve

Derivation of the botanical name:

Sherardia, named after William Sherard (1659-1728), the botanist and founder of the Sherardian Professorship of Botany, University of Oxford, UK.

arvensis, arvum, field, cultivated land, plowed land; ensis adjective suffix for nouns: country or place of origin or habitat. Meaning: “of cultivated fields”.
The hebrew name: ששית, shishit, from שש / six; calyx 6-toothed, persistent in fruit.

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.