Israel wild flowers: Crown Daisy

Chrysanthemum coronarium, Glebionis coronarium, Glebionis roxburghii, Crown Daisy,

Hebrew: חרצית עטורה, Arabic: أقحوان كبير , بسباس , بسوم

Scientific name:   Chrysanthemum coronarium L.
Synonym name:   Glebionis coronarium (L.) Cass. ex Spach, Glebionis roxburghii (Desf.) Tzvelev
Common name:   Crown Daisy, Garland daisy
Hebrew name:   חרצית עטורה
Arabic name:   أقحوان كبير , بسباس , بسوم
Plant Family:   Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים


Life form:   Annual
Stems:   20-70 cm, simple or branched, slightly glaucous, erect, glabrous
Leaves:   Alternate, dissected twice or more
Inflorescence:   A head, each resembling a flower, 1–many, generally arrayed in cymes
Flowers:   4-6 cm in diameter, yellow ray and yellow tube flowers
Fruits / pods:   Achenes subterete or obovoid, faintly 5-8-ribbed; covered with sessile, non-mucilaginous glands; achenes of ligulate flowers with an adaxial wing; pappus absent
Flowering Period:   February, March, April, May
Habitat:   Ruderal
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Chrysanthemum (Plinius), Greek chrysos “gold” and anthemon “flower,” referring to the color of the capitula.

coronarium, corona (Latin), “crown”; coronaria, used for garlands, or pertaining for garlands.
Glebionis, from the Latin gleba, “soil,” and -ionis, “characteristic of,” of uncertain application.
The hebrew name Charzit, חרצית, from Charutz, חרוץ [Ugaritic cheritz; Canaanite: cheritz; Arabic: churtz (gold earring); charutz is the source of the Greek chrysos (Χρύσος/khrysos): also meaning gold.

  • 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 Cass. is used to indicate Alexandre Henri Gabriel de Cassini (1781 – 1832), a French botanist and naturalist. The standard author abbreviation Spach is used to indicate Édouard Spach (1801 – 1879), a French botanist. The standard author abbreviation Desf. is used to indicate René Louiche Desfontaines (1750 – 1833), a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Tzvelev is used to indicate Nikolai Nikolaievich Tzvelev (born 1925), a Russian botanist.