Several of Israel's rare and endangered species have begun producing seeds and flowering once again as a result of a joint conservation effort, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) announced last Sunday.
Many of the species that have flowered in recent months are yielding fruit for the first time, and the resulting seeds are being collected and stored at several protected locations, including the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Israel Plant Gene Bank.
The ongoing initiative is being spearheaded by KKL-JNF, Eshtaol Nursery, and the Jerusalem Botanical Garden to cultivate rare and vulnerable plant populations in the hopes of eventually strengthening their persistence in the wild.
Amongst the flourishing species is the nearly-endangered spiked fenugreek, a yellow-flowered plant used for cooking and traditional medicinal practices. Other breakthrough species include the bristly cephalaria, which germinated and bloomed without issue, representing a significant finding for species that are difficult to cultivate outside of their natural habitats.
“The research project on endangered plants is advancing in great strides, and today we know how to propagate more than 500 different species," said Dr. Ori Fragman-Sapir, the scientific director of the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, and one of the authors of the Red Data Book on endangered plants in Israel.
"Our nursery team, and especially Nadav Herman, work tirelessly day and night and are succeeding in this mission through the fruitful and productive cooperation between the Botanical Garden and KKL-JNF,” he added.
The environmental initiative has seen numerous other successes, including the nursery cultivation of jointed goatgrass, which could prove useful in ongoing agricultural research, an unexpected population of white-tunicated garlic, and the first flowering of a phoenician rose in the Botanical Garden.
Though the Jerusalem Botanical Garden is well-known as a site for research and floral displays, these recent developments have given it a new role as a refuge for rare wild plants.
“The greatest significance is not only that a rare plant succeeds in flowering here, but that it completes its life cycle, produces seeds, and sometimes even establishes itself independently in the field," said Rotem Attias, manager of Eshtaol Nursery at KKL-JNF. "Every such seed is another layer of security for a species that could disappear from nature.”
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