Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 91, July 2009, pp. 1-31. | Page 3

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Many of the country's cultivated flowers - among them, the iris, madonna lily (Lilium
candidum), tulip and hyacinth - have relatives among wild flowers. Soon after the first
winter rains fall in October/November, a green carpet grows, covering the country
until the next dry season. Pink and white cyclamen and red, white and purple
anemones bloom from December to March, followed by the blue lupin (Lupinus
angustifolius) and yellow corn marigold (Chrysanthemum segetum). Many native plants,
such as the crocus and squill, are geophytes, storing nourishment in their bulbs and
tubers and blooming at the end of the summer.
Picking wildflowers used to be a popular pastime, with some even sold commercially.
In the mid-1960s, however, the Nature Reserves Authorities in Palestine and Israel, with
the help of the Palestine Wildlife Society and the Society for the Protection of Nature in
Israel, published a list of protected wildflowers and launched a vigorous education
campaign. The public was urged: "Don't pick! Don't uproot! Don't buy! And don't sell!"
The effort saved Palestine's wildflowers, and four decades later it is considered the most
successful nature protection campaign conducted in the country.

The Palestine Iris Iris Palaestina.
http://image08.webshots.com/8/9/23/11/116692311gcVnWR_fs.jpg
Gazelle – Number 91 – July 2009