Israel wildflowers: Tel Aviv Stork’s-bill

Erodium telavivense, Tel Aviv Stork’s-bill,
Hebrew: מקור-חסידה תל-אביבי, Arabic: الرقمة تل أبيب


Scientific name:		Erodium telavivense Eig.
Common name:		Tel Aviv Stork’s-bill
Hebrew name:		מקור-חסידה תל-אביבי
Arabic name:		الرقمة تل أبيب
Plant Family:		Geraniaceae, גרניים

_{Location: Poleg Nature Reserve}


Life form:		Therophyte, annual
Stems:		20-50 cm high; hairy with papillary viscid hairs and shorter glandular hairs
Leaves:		Alternate, compound, pinnate, dentate or serrate, apressed hairy
Inflorescence:		Umbel, peduncles 2-4 flowered
Flowers:		Sepals 6—10 mm long, 5-nerved, much enlarged in fruit terminated by a herbaceous 4—5 mm. long mucro; filaments much broadened at base, all fertile; petals pink, violet, somewhat papilose at base
Fruits / pods:		Schizocarp; carpel 14-17mm long, hairy; beak 8-13 cm long
Flowering Period:		March, April
Habitat:		Sand
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:		Mediterranean
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral

_{Location: Poleg Nature Reserve}
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.

telavivense, Tel Aviv.
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 Eig. is used to indicate Alexander Eig (1894 – 1938), one of the first plant researchers in Israel.

_{Location: Poleg Nature Reserve}