Israel wildflowers | common chickweed

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


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


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.



Location: Betah Mountain, Western Galilee