Anemones come in many colours beside red
Tuvia's iris
The rarest of irises
In the last few weeks I have had the good fortune to visit both the Golan and the Negev. In both places, surprisingly enough, I saw wild irises in bloom.
In 1948 the ill-fated Lamed Hey were ambushed in the Ela valley as they tried to come to the aid of the besieged defenders of Gush Etzion. One of the 35 young heroes who gave his life that day was Tuvia Kushnir.
All his too short life he was a lover of flowers and had gone on many a field trip seeking them out. On one such trip, he wandered into Jordan and was arrested by the Jordanians, as they thought he was a spy. Who would believe that an Israeli would stray into Jordan looking for a flower? But they did, and he was released unharmed.
Tuvia discovered an iris that at first was thought to be the Irus Eretzisraeli or Iris palaestina but it turned out to be a much rarer relative, unique to Israel. This beautiful and rare flower is found in the wilds of the Negev desert north of Mitzpeh Ramon.
To my immense joy, I found and photographed one at Borot Lotz, not far from a desert cystern dug three thousand years ago by the Children of Israel.
The swamp iris
Egg yolks
Monday, November 16, 2009
A lovely white flower. Is THIS a crocus?
This time it seems the answer is yes. They are called karcom chorpi in Hebrew which translates as wintery crocus. The fancy Latin name is crocus hyemalis. Hyemalis is Latin for winter.
I found these lovely flowers growing happily out from a grassy tuft high up on the mountain. They were obviously delighted with the heavy rains we had just a couple of weeks ago and made their appearance soon after.
Ain't nature amazing?
I found these lovely flowers growing happily out from a grassy tuft high up on the mountain. They were obviously delighted with the heavy rains we had just a couple of weeks ago and made their appearance soon after.
Ain't nature amazing?
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