The sycamine tree is a tree mentioned in both classical Hebrew literature and in Greek literature. The tree is also known by the names sycamore fig tree, and fig-mulberry. It appears also in Luke 17:6 and 19:4 of the Bible. The Hebrew word for the tree is shiḳmah (sing.), shiḳmīn (pl.), having nearly the same phonemes in Greek Others, however, identify the tree as mulberry tree, found in two species, the Black Mulberry and the White Mulberry, which are common in Palestine. It is in the same family as the fig-tree.
The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but cedars will we put in their place.
Asphodelus ramosus, the branched asphodel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the order Asparagales. Similar in appearance to Asphodelus albus and particularly Asphodelus cerasiferus and Asphodelus aestivus, it may be distinguished by its highly branched stem and smaller fruits. There has been a lot of confusion over the nomenclature and taxonomy of the species, owing to its similarity to Asphodelus aestivus.
Drimia maritima is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. This species is known by several common names, including squill, sea squill, sea onion, and maritime squill. It may also be called red squill, particularly a form which produces red-tinged flowers instead of white. It is native to southern Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.
Origanum syriacum; syn. Majorana syriaca, bible hyssop, Biblical-hyssop, Lebanese oregano or Syrian oregano, is an aromatic perennial herb in the mint family, Lamiaceae.
Anemonoides blanda, syn. Anemone blanda, the Balkan anemone, Grecian windflower, or winter windflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae. The species is native to southeastern Europe and the Middle East. The specific epithet blanda means "mild" or "charming". The genus name is derived from the Greek word anemos, or wind.
Arum palaestinum is a species of flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the family Araceae and the genus Arum It is native to the Levant and other parts of the Mediterranean Basin, and has been naturalized in North America, North Africa, Europe, Western Asia, and Australia The family Araceae includes other well-known plants such as Anthurium, Caladium, and Philodendron.
Amphicarpy is a reproductive strategy that occurs with 13 plant families, expressed mostly in species with an annual life cycle. It is characterized by production of two types of fruit, for different ecological roles. It is sometimes restricted to the situation where one fruit type is aerial and the other subterranean (hypogeous), and similar to, but distinguished from, heterocarpy, which latter means a plant that carries two distinct types of fruit or seeds. The word amphicarp is the contraction of the Greek words ἀμφί meaning "of both kinds" and καρπός meaning fruit.
Asphodelus aestivus, the summer asphodel, is a species of asphodel, a common Western Mediterranean geophyte with a short vertical rhizome and basal leaves. Its flowers are actinomorphic, pinkish-white, with six perianth segments, 14–19 mm long and six stamens of the same length, in two whorls. Its distribution is limited to the Western Mediterranean, mainly found in Portugal and Spain on the European mainland. There has been a lot of confusion over the nomenclature and taxonomy of the species, owing to its similarity to Asphodelus ramosus. It grows in dry grasslands, phrygana and on rocky or sandy ground.
Leontice is a group of perennial, tuberous herbs in the Berberidaceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753.
Soda rosmarinus is a perennial-green desert species of saltwort in the Amaranthaceae family. It is endemic to the lower Jordan Valley along the Dead Sea, in Israel and Jordan, and in the Syrian desert, Central Iraq and in the coastal regions of Saudi Arabia, the islands of Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran, commonly known in Arabic by the names ʾušnān and šenān and in the Neo-Aramaic languages by reflexes of ʾuḥlā. It is often used by Bedouins for cleaning as a soap substitute. In medieval Arabic literature, it is also known by the names of "green ushnan" and "launderers' potash", having been used since time immemorial to produce nabulsi soap and as an electuary in compounding theriac for use in treating scorpion stings, as well as for extracting potassium for other medicinal uses.
Nathan ben Abraham, known also by the epithet President of the Academy in the Land of Israel, was an 11th-century rabbi and exegete of the Mishnah who lived in Ramla, in the Jund Filastin district of the Fatimid Caliphate. He was the author of the first known commentary covering the entire Mishnah.
Satureja thymbra, commonly known as savory of Crete, whorled savory, pink savory, and Roman hyssop, is a perennial-green dwarf shrub of the family Lamiaceae, having strongly scented leaves, native to Libya, southeastern Europe from Sardinia to Turkey; Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The plant is noted for its dark-green leaves which grow on numerous, closely compacted branches, reaching a height of 20–50 cm. The plant bears pink to purple flowers that blossom between March and June.
Linum strictum, commonly known as rigid flax, upright flax, and upright yellow flax, is a species of flax with a rigid stem, from whence it derives its taxonomic name, growing to a height of 10–45 cm. The plant is endemic to the Mediterranean region. It features highly in classical Hebrew and Greek literature, owing principally to its cultivation for its plant fiber, linen, but also for its edible seeds and culinary foliage.
Verbascum sinuatum, commonly known as the scallop-leaved mullein, the wavyleaf mullein, or Candela regia, is a species of perennial herbaceous plants in the genus Verbascum (mullein), growing in heavy soils in Central Asia and the Mediterranean region. It grows to 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft). The plant has an erect inflorescence stem, and is entirely covered with stellate hairs (trichomes) which are not pleasant to the touch.
Anchusa strigosa is a non-succulent species of herbaceous plants in the Boraginaceae family endemic to the Eastern Mediterranean regions, particularly, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Iran. It is known widely by its common names of strigose bugloss and prickly alkanet.
Piptatherum holciforme is a species of perennial cereal grass known by the common names rice grass, hairy ricegrass, and hairy millet grass, endemic to Eurasia, especially the Mediterranean basin. The seed of the plant is a type of grain millet that can be ground into meal and prepared as a porridge.
Echium judaeum, commonly known as the Judean viper's bugloss, is an annual plant endemic to southern Lebanon, southern Syria and Israel, of the Boraginaceae family, and which, like other herbaceous flowering plants of the same genus, derives its name from the style's resemblance to the forked-tongue of a serpent during the flower's pistillate-stage of development.
Wild edible plants in the geographical region known as Israel, like in other countries, have been used to sustain life in periods of scarcity and famine, or else simply used as a supplementary food source for additional nourishment and pleasure. The diverse flora of Israel and Palestine offers a wide-range of plants suitable for human consumption, many of which have a long history of usage in the daily cuisines of its native peoples.
Delphinium peregrinum, also commonly known as violet larkspur, is a Eurasian flowering plant, belonging to the genus Delphinium, endemic to Turkey, the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Irano-Turanian region, bearing an erect, annual stem with glabrous compound leaves and reaching a height of 27–35 cm. The plant, which blossoms between April and August, bears five colorful sepals (calyx), petaloid, the posterior sepal spurred, the two lateral sepals and the two lower sepals without spurs; while the anterior sepals can either be fused or separated. The inflorescence (corollas) are sparsely arranged, irregular, and are borne on long pedicels subtended by bracts.
Scorzonera judaica, commonly called Jordanian viper's grass, Judean viper's grass, or what was earlier known as salsify, is a species of geophyte of the family Asteraceae. It is native to the eastern Mediterranean as far as Afghanistan.
