My quest to photograph the plants of Israel began one morning in April five years ago with a walk on the security road of my town, Ma’ale Adumim, and an out-of-print book. During the walk, I came across several plants that dazzled with their exoticism, but the one that caught my eye wasn’t the most beautiful of all. On the contrary, it was an unappealing thistle, about 30 to 50 centimeter tall, which I had never seen before. Beside it, I saw eight other plants.
About a month later, at a book sale at a local synagogue, I bought a used book that would set me on my path to photograph and research plants. On page 163 of Plants of the Bible, published in 1982 and authored by Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor Michael Zohary, I found a photo of the thistle that had intrigued me: Tournefort’s gundelia (goundelia tundefortii).
Excited by my discovery, I took my Nikon camera and went to look for the specimens I had seen on my previous walks on the security road and in the book.
The plants of Israel
Photographing them was a thrilling experience that brought me in contact with plants that most of us know nothing about but are part of our landscape. Some of the wonders hiding in plain sight are the Alkanet (anchusa azure), a rare beauty of large and hairy leaves; the Desert baby’s breath (Arabian gypsophila), whose flowers measure less than an inch each; and the toxic Golden henbane (hyoscyamus aureus), a constant presence on the Western Wall. An article with photos of several of those plants was published in The Jerusalem Post’s weekly supplement In Jerusalem in May 2020.
Researching made me realize that Israel is an extensive botanical garden. Thanks to its unique geographical position, it is the meeting ground for plants of different origins, which explains why more than 2,500 species are found here. Opinions vary, but about 110 are mentioned in the Bible. Other references to biblical flora are the Talmud, the Mishna and the New Testament.
Seeing the vast photographic and artistic potential of plants and flowers, I purchased a 90-mm. macro Tomron lens to capture all the details of my subjects. I also needed an “expert” to guide me on my new passion, so after a careful search I bought a book, one of the best in the field, Photographing Flowers, by Harold Davis, published in 2015. Satisfied with my photos, in 2022 I began posting them occasionally on my town’s Facebook page. When in doubt about a plant, I consulted a local expert.
The postings, now weekly, have expanded beyond Ma’ale Adumim and include plants from other parts of the country.
The next step in my quest was to join the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, whose collection of some 6,000 species of plants and trees from all over the world makes it the largest in Israel.
There are many websites about the flora of Israel, but few explore its background in depth. Prof. Zohary’s book, which discusses 128 plants as belonging to the biblical world, is excellent; but for serious research, more than one book is needed.
The flora of the Middle East has attracted travelers and scholars, starting in the 1500s, but their books, written mostly in German, Hebrew, Latin and French, are inaccessible to the average person. I looked for one that would guide a non-expert like me through the country’s flora. I found what I was looking for in the 1907 book Flowers and Trees of Palestine by Augusta A. Temple, which features 40 black-and-white photographs and a detailed description of about 1,000 plants and trees.
Another gem, Bible Flowers and Flower Lore, published in London in 1885, which I bought from a street vendor in Jerusalem, added to my knowledge of Israel’s plants and took me farther back in time in its history. The author is mesmerized by the vegetation of the Holy Land, which “might justifiably have arrogated to itself the title of ‘the flowery land.’”
In my quest, I have visited Sataf Forest, west of Jerusalem; the Neot Kedumim Nature Reserve, near Modi’in; Ein Gedi Nature Reserve; Ramat Hanadiv – Gardens and Nature Park, in Zichron Ya’acov; as well as sites and gardens in Ma’ale Adumim, Jerusalem, Efrat, Petah Tikva, Kibbutz Levi, Kibbutz Tzuba, Timna Park, and Caesarea.
My latest bibliographic acquisition about the local flora is Israel Florilegium, published in March jointly by ERETZ magazine and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, showcasing 220 illustrations of wildflowers by British illustrators Heather Wood and Mary Grierson. The illustrations, commissioned in the 1970s by the Nature Reserves Authority, today the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, for a campaign to protect wildflowers, were lost for 50 years. Found not long ago, they are presented in full color in this lavish 342-page coffee-table book, accompanied by English and Hebrew explanations.
What have I learned after five years of photographing plants and flowers? The resilience of the wild plants that break through asphalt and cement, like the crown daisy, to show their wonders is fascinating. Some 3,000 plants and trees originated outside Israel and have been cultivated here for centuries, becoming part of the local vegetation. Among them are the stone pine, the eucalyptus, and the sabra. The latter, from which the affectionate name for Israelis is derived, is an import from Mexico.
But the richness of Israel’s flora is threatened, as more than 400 native species are in danger of disappearing due, in part, to urban and agricultural development, invasive species, and pollution. They are identified as “red” by the experts.
The therapeutic benefits of gardening, planting, being around flowers, or spending time in a botanical garden can’t be overstated and have been the topic of several studies. The feeling of going back in time when you know that the vegetation you see is pretty much the same as it was thousands of years ago, as the climatic conditions of Israel have remained practically unchanged, is incomparable.
When people ask why I photograph plants, I reply: “They let me get very close and don’t ask questions.”■
Daniel Santacruz is a writer and translator living in Ma’ale Adumim. His flower photography can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/beautiful-flowers-of-israel/