Plants in Israel: Starfruit

Damasonium alisma, Starfruit, Thrumwort,
דמסון כוכבני


Scientific name:		Damasonium alisma Mill.
Synonym name:		Actinocarpus damasonium R.Br., Damasonium stellatum Thuill.
Common name:		Starfruit, Thrumwort
Hebrew name:		דמסון כוכבני
Plant Family:		Alismataceae, כף-הצפרדעע

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}


Life form:		Therophyte, annual
Stems:		Up to 30 cm
Leaves:		Alternate, rosette; entire; smooth
Flowers:		White, pink, hermaphrodite
Fruits / pods:		a whorl of follicles; the follicles are laterally compressed, stellately radiating, with a more or less elongated apical beak; “startfruit” seeds are shaped like stars
Flowering Period:		April, May, June
Habitat:		Humid habitats
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:		Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:		ephemeral

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}
Derivation of the botanical name:

Damasonium, a classical Greek name.

alisma, αλισμα, name for a water plant used by Dioscorides, and adopted by Carolus Linnaeus.
Perhaps itself derived from the Celtic, alias, “water”.

The standard author abbreviation Mill. is used to indicate Philip Miller (1691 – 1771), a Scottish botanist.
The standard author abbreviation R.Br. is used to indicate Robert Brown (1773 – 1858), a Scottish botanist.
The standard author abbreviation Thuill. is used to indicate Jean Louis Thuillier (1757 – 1822), a French botanist.

_{Location: Netanya, the Dora rain pool}