Kalanit
Israel Plant Magazine
February 2015
The use of wild plants from the maquis and scrubland as food, drink and spices – an ecological service for the well-being of man.
Gadi Pollak, Kalanit editorial, gadpollak@gmail.com
Keywords: edible plants, ecosystem services, provisioning service, Mediterranean, ethnobotany, cultural service,
In the Mediterranean maquis and scrubland in Israel there are over 140 species of wild plants that serve as food, drink and spices. In the past these species supplied a provisioning service of food supply. The use of wild plants as a source of nutrition continues to the present day, but it is waning as a provisioning service. At the same time cultural services, based on the use of edible, drinkable and spice plants of the maquis and scrubland, are gradually developing.
The Rhus Spring – a small fissure spring in the Rhus tripartita Reserve near Matan
Oz Golan, The Center for Materials Engineering and Processes, Afeka College for Engineering in Tel-Aviv. golanoz.me@gmail.com
Keywords: rock pools, news and discoveries, aquatic plants, Western Samaria, Callitriche, Lemna, Crassula, Ranunculus, Zannichellia
An unknown fissure spring, with plants unique to damp habitats, was discovered in the Rhus typhina Reserve between the settlements of Matan and Nirit. This spring join a group of shallow and deep Rock Springs in western Samaria, as a damp habitat.
Wild useful plants in Eretz-Israel in the 1920s
Uri Rosenberg agron@netvision.net.il
Keywords: useful plants, Bilu imigration, agriculture, textbook, cultivated plants, plant names
Following the article in Kalanit on the use of wild plants from the maquis and scrubland as food, drink and spices – an ecological service for the well-beeing of man, I should like to present a source, within the framework of the section "a window to the past", in which one can find information on the main wild plants from which the Jewish inhabitants of Eretz Israel derived benefit in the 1920s. As usual, when we deal with old texts, in addition to the botanical information, interesting cultural-linguistic and historical insights emerge.
The endangered plant Warburg's Roman Squill (Bellevalia warburgii) – a new find in the Ayanot meadow in the southern coastal plain
Liran Vakil, nature observer. Gadi Pollak participated in the writing gapollak@gmail.com
Keywords: nature conservation, heavy soils, Asparageceae, endemic species, red plant, extinction, Liliaceae, geophyte
Warburg's Roman Squill (Bellevalia warburgii) is a plant, which is endemic to Israel, and grows on heavy soil. Recently new data has accumulated regarding the distribution of the plant in Israel, and a new site was discovered in the Ayanot meadow in the southern coastal plain. In the article the species' documentation history is reviewed, and the significance of the population's discovery to nature conservation.
