Flowers in Israel – פרחים בארץ ישראל: November 2007

* Flower identified by Elisabeth.b

Ceratonia siliqua, Carob, is often called the poor man’s bread and it is regarded as a symbol of humility The Carob Tree or Locust (the ´husks´ of which were fed to the swine -Luke15:16), also known as St. John’s Bread (Mark 1:6).

Legend says John the Baptist sustained himself on the Carob beans while travelling in the wilderness. This particular reference has been rather misunderstood. St. John the Baptist has been reported to survive during his time in the dessert eating locusts (insects). This reference has been confused with Locust Bean which is another word for carob.It is well known that in Biblical times wild (non cultivated) carobs were in abundance. Furthermore ancient Greeks recorded that the Egyptians called this particular tree the “Egyptian Fig”. The Egyptians not only ate the pods raw but used the gum out of the seeds (LBG) to produce a liquid which they widely used in the mummification of their dead. The scientific name of the carob tree derives from the Greek keras, “horn”, and Latin siliqua, alluding to the hardness and shape of the pod. The Carob tree (Hebrew:חרוב Charuv) (Ceratonia siliqua) is an leguminous evergreen shrub or tree of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), native to the Mediterranean region, cultivated for its edible seed pods.The flowers of the carob are very small, inconspicuous and unisexual. Pollination happens by insects and the wind. The Carob tree matures slowly and bares pods in the 5th – 6th year. The pods are brown, usually straight and 10-20 cm long. The walls of the pod and the partitions in the fruit contain very high concentrations of sugar, more minerals and vitamins, and less carbohydrates and fat than cocoa. The pods are rich in protein and sugar and have often been proclaimed “wholesome for man or beast”. The pulp is a valuable sweetener and chocolate substitute and the roasted seeds have even been used as a coffee substitute. The seeds constitute 10 to 20% of the pod. They yield a tragacanth-like gum (manogalactan), in the trade called “Tragasol”, which is an important commercial stabilizer and thickener in bakery goods, ice cream, salad dressings, sauces, cheese, salami, canned meats and fish, jelly, mustard, and other food products. The seeds and pods can be fermented and distilled, with the drink retaining the appealing flavor of the pods. The seeds ground up produce a protein rich flour that contains no starch or sugar and is ideal for diabetics. In Western Europe the roasted seeds have served as a substitute for coffee. In Spain, they have been mixed with coffee. A mature tree can produce over 400 pounds of pods and seeds annually. In 1811 and 1812, these pods were the principle food for the British Cavalry during the war and they have been much used as fodder. At one time, the seeds were in high demand by chemists, as singers thought that they cleared the throat. Even medicinal uses have been found for the pods, with laxative and demulcent qualities being associated with them. The seeds of the fruit of the Carob tree weigh always between 197 and 216 milligram. Already in antiquity these seeds were used as a weight unit.

Just at the beginning of the twentieth century the metric carat (see: carat) was determined internationally on 0.2 gram. Dried carob fruit is traditionally eaten on the Jewish Holiday of Tu Bishvat. Read more…

‘They showed the elephants the juice of grapes and mulberries, to arouse them for battle’. I Maccabees 6:34

In the Mediterranean countries the white and the black mulberry have been cultivated. The morus alba (White Mulberry) is a native of China and are extensively grown for their leaves as food for silkworms.
The black mulberry, possibly a derative of the white mulberry, grows wild in Northern Iran, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, and in Colchis, an ancient region on the Black Sea south of the Caucasus Mountains (Colchis is where Jason, the legendary leader of Argonauts, traveled in search of the Golden Fleece ( the winged ram Chrysomallos)). Both species, the white and black mulberry, contain in every part a milky juice, which will coagulate into a sort of Indian rubber, and this has been thought to give tenacity to the filament spun by the silkworm.

The White mulberry a deciduous fruit tree and is so-named for the color of its buds, rather than the color of its fruit.It is a small tree up to 12 meter tall, branches low and develops a wide spreading crown. The trunk can attain 60 cm in diameter. The leaves of the Morus alba are variously lobed even on the same plant. Some are unlobed while others are glove-shaped.The flowers are small, greenish-yellow, in dense spikes to 2 cm long. The fruit Resembles blackberries, cylindrical, 1 to 1 1/4 inch long, fleshy multiple of drupes. White mulberries can produce white, lavender or black fruit.The fruits are generally very sweet but often lacking in needed tartness. The fruits are ready for harvest in late spring.

Fruits may be eaten raw or cooked. Fruits are an ingredient of a particularly seductive drink known as Mulberry Wine.

Most of Italy’s silk comes from the communities around the northern city of Como, where the white mulberry is raised for this purpose.Pliny, Ovid and Virgil wrote about the mulberry, which was raised on farms throughout the Italian peninsula, but while the Romans associated silk with its leaves, they may not have understood that silk worms actually produced the substance.Pliny speaks of its employment in medicine and also describes its use in Egypt and Cyprus. He further relates:

‘Of all the cultivated trees, the Mulberry is the last that buds, which it never does until the cold weather is past, and it is therefore called the wisest of trees. But when it begins to put forth buds, it dispatches the business in one night, and that with so much force, that their breaking forth may be evidently heard.’

It has been suggested that the generic name of the Mulberry, Morus, has been derived from the Latin word mora (delay), from this tardy expansion of the buds, and as the wisest of its fellows, the tree was dedicated by the Ancients to Minerva, goddess of wisdom.

Ovid (43 BCE – 17CE), in Metamorphoses, tells the story of the star-crossed lovers Pyramus and Thisbe, who killed themselves beneath a fruiting white mulberry. When the dying Thisbe prayed to the gods that the tree would “always have fruit of a dark and mournful hue, to make men remember the blood we two have shed,” the gods granted her wish and changed the white mulberry into the black mulberry, which stains the hands a reddish color

At the time of Virgil (70-19 BCE) silk was held to be a product of the Mulberry leaves, the work of the silkworms not being understood. Silkworm culture was first introduced by Justinian I, “Justinian the Great” (483-565 CE), Byzantine emperor.
In Italy the Black Mulberry was employed for feeding the silkworm until about 1434, when Morus alba was introduced from the Levant, the eastern part of the Mediterranean, and has ever since been commonly preferred.

In 1608 James I (1566-1625), being anxious to promote the silk industry by introducing the culture of the silkworm into Britain, issued an edict encouraging the cultivation of Mulberry trees, but the attempt to rear silkworms in England proved unsuccessful, apparently because the Black Mulberry was cultivated in error, whereas the White Mulberry is the species on which the silkworm flourishes.

Charlemagne, Charles the Great (742-814CE), king of the Franks, enjoyed the trees in his private garden, planted circa 812.

H.B.Tristram(1822-1906) writes: “Both the white and Black Mulberry trees are common in Palestine, and their cultivation has, doubtless, increased since the introduction of the silkworm, fed on their leaves, and the rearing of which is the staple industry of the peasantry in the Lebanon.
The Mulberry is also grown for rearing silk about many of the villages between Jerusalem and Nablous (Shechem) and often covers the terraced hill-sides…”

The author of Arisarum vulgare is Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, Italy, 1712-1783.
Arisarum derived from the Greek word arisaron (as used by Dioscorides in reference to aris, aridos, the name of a small herb mentioned by Pliny, possibly Arisarum itself, and aron (Arum)) and vulgare, common, since large quantities were found (Latin). The plant has originated and is native to the Mediterranean region.

A tuberous perennial geophyte with a pulpit-shaped, dark purple-brown ‘flower’ from which a curved tongue-like structure is seen protruding out. The spathe or involucral leaf resembles a cowl, hence the name ‘Friar’s Cowl.The plant grows from an underground tuberous rhizome hence a creeping underground which give rise to new stalked leaves and flowers each year. Since the underground stem lives all year round, the plant is described as perennial, but actually, during the hottest period of the year, there are no aerial leaves or flowers.

Every leaf and flower are supported by a single, unbranched stalk that grows directly from the underground tuber. The petioles (leafstalks) bear a single fleshy leaf about 10 to 18cm long and 6-8cm wide and have dark spots and flecks that resemble ants (Formicidae) in size and shape on the petioles and inflorescence stems, a visual insect mimicry that serves as herbivore repellent cues and are part of the defence system of the plants.

The period of blooming (florescence) is January, February, March, April, October, November, December

In Israel we find the Arisarum vulgare in the Mediterranean Woodlands, Shrublands and Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon.

In North Africa, the roots are much used in seasons of shortage. The root, which is not as large as an ordinary walnut, contains an acid juice, which makes it quite uneatable in the natural state. This is, however, removed by repeated washings and the residue is innoxious and nutritive.
Arisum vulgare contains crystals of calcium oxalate. These needle-like crystals produce pain and edema when they contact lips, tongue, oral mucosa, conjunctiva, or skin.

The name “pomegranate” derives from Latin pomum (apple) and granatus (”seed-apple”).A separate, widespread root for “pomegranate” is the Egyptian and Semitic rmn. Attested in Ancient Egyptian, in Hebrew Rimon, and in Arabic rumman, this root was brought by Arabic to a number of languages.In many European languages, the weapon shell has names similar to granate. These derive from the same Latin word granum “grain”, attested in 1532, from the French name for the fruit (pome) grenade.

The reference is to the many fragments resulting from the detonation of a shell. Remarkably, also in Hebrew the word rimon [רימון] may mean both “pomegranate fruit” and “shell”.

In a Homeric Hymn, Persephone, daughter of Ceres, the Goddess of growth and abundance, was forced to spend four months of each year in the underworld, because Pluto forced her to eat the seed of the pomegranate, when she was held captive in the underworld. The period of time in which this would take place is during winter, with spring heralding the return to the world aboveground.

In Christianity the Pomegranate is the symbol of the Resurrection of Jesus after its classical association with Persephone (Persephone is the equivalent of the Roman goddess Proserpine, an ancient Roman goddess), a life-death-rebirth deity. The many seeds contained in its tough case made it also a symbol of the unity of the many under one authority, and of chastity.

Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate is a symbol for righteousness, because it is said to have 613 seeds which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot or commandments of the Torah. For this reason and others many Jews eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah.Of the seven species in Deut. 8:8, Punica granatum L. (Punicaceae) may be the most beautiful. Pomegranates figure prominently in three places in Scripture: the garment of the high priest (Exod. 28:33), as a garland on the temple pillars, and in the Song of Songs.Solomon’s temple had four hundred pomegranates engraved on the capitals of the two pillars located at the front of the temple (1 Kings 7:42; 2 Chron. 4:13). These pomegranates are also mentioned in Jer. 52:22–23.

In Song of Songs 4:3 and 6:7, the red interior of the fruit is likened to the temples of the Beloved. These are the only biblical references to the red, juicy seeds of the pomegranate. The unique seed coat in pomegranate is fleshy and is widely used in the Middle East to prepare a pleasantly sour, refreshing drink. This may be the meaning in Song of Songs 8:2 while Song of Songs 6:11 and 7:12 refer to the attractive bell-shaped flower.

The classical authors mentioned wine made from pomegranate juice, which was acoording to Dioscorides (ca. 40-ca. 90 CE) used for medicinal purposes and he recorded it as ‘to bind the stomach’. Pomegranate may be used in the treatment of dysentry, diarrhoea and stomach-ache. The rind was used to dye the leather yellow (Pliny, N.H.XIII.XXXIV).

“Granada” is the Spanish word for “pomegranate.” And Grenada is an island country lying in close proximity to the Grenadine islands and in the list of exports does not include pomegranates – in fact, pomegranates do not fair their best in tropical climates.Grenadine (grenadine syrup) is a syrup made from pomegranates.

And… the best pomegranates come from the village of Cana, near Nazareth!

Try: Fesenjan – Duck with Pomegranate & Walnut SauceThis duck recipe is adapted from one featured in:

Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food.

2 tablespoons sunflower oil4 duck breasts, skinned and scored1 large onion, thinly sliced2 cloves garlic, thinly slicedsalt and freshly ground black pepper3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses150mls chicken stock75g walnuts, finely chopped

2-3 teaspoons sugar, or to taste

Gently fry the duck breasts in oil, skin side down for 5-10 minutes, until they release their fat. Add the onion, garlic and salt and pepper. Fry until onion is soft, stirring occasionally. Once the skin has browned, turn the heat up and brown the flesh side. Remove the duck from the pan and leave in a warm place.

Pour the duck fat from the onions and reserve fat for another use. Add the pomegranate molasses, chicken stock, walnuts and a little sugar to taste. Stir well, bring to a simmer then return the duck to the pan. Continue cooking until the duck is medium rare. Rest the duck for 5 minutes while you reduce the liquid to sauce consistency.
Serves 4.

Nymphaea is a genus of aquatic perennial plants having showy flowers (white, blue, pink, or yellow, often fragrant), including the white water lily and the Egyptian lotus. Linnaeus (1753) originally described the genus Nymphaea L. to include three entities: the yellow water-lilies (currently Nuphar), white water-lilies (currently Nymphaea), and water-lotuses (currently Nelumbo Adans.). They are growing from an underwater stem, which is buried in the mud and sends down rootlets for anchorage. The rhizome of the Nymphaea is astringent and antiseptic. It contains alkaloids (nymphaeine and nupharine), resin, glycosides, and tannins.
Israel was a meeting point of the southernmost border of distribution for the white water lily (Nymphaea alba) and the northernmost limit for the blue water lily (Nymphaea caerulea).

In 1999, a nursery of aquatic ornamental plants was founded in the framework of the Jewish National Found (KKL) nursery and Nymphaea caerulea and Nymphaea alba were included in the nursery program.

According to the ancient Greeks, the water lily was originally a Nymph, Lotis, a female spirit of nature, who was transformed into a lotus while fleeing from the phallic deity Priapus, a minor rustic fertility god of purely phallic character.

That is how these beautiful flowers came to be. Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BCE – 17CE), a Roman poet, twice recounted an anecdote of Priapus’s foiled attempt on a sleeping nymph: once he told it of the nymph Lotis and then again, calling it a “very playful little tale”, he retold it of Vesta, the Roman equivalent of Hestia.

The Nympyhaea caerulea was by far the most important flower in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians saw that the blue water lily opened up each morning and each afternoon would close again only to open again each day. Since Atum was an early solar deity in Egyptian mythology, Nefertum (literally meaning young Atum) represented sunrise, consequently Atum became mainly understood as the setting sun. Since Atum had arisen from the primal waters in the bud of an Egyptian blue water lily (Nymphaea caerulea), Nefertum was associated with this flower. The Egyptians equated the Creator-god with the Blue Lotus, which is believed to have emerged at some point in time from the primeval ocean. The sun god Re had become into being by appearing from a lotus flower floating on primeval waters, being born from a floral womb. As a symbol of rebirth for the Kemet (one of the indigenous names for “Egypt”), the Lotus was closely related to the imagery of the funerary and Osirian cult. The Four Sons of Horus (a group of four gods) were frequently shown standing on a Blue Lotus in front of Osiris (god of the dead). The use of Nymphaea caerulea and of Nymphaea lotos in rites and rituals is depicted in the frescoes within the tombs, and in very early papyrus scrolls. The most important of these was the scroll of Book of the Dead, a description of the ancient Egyptian conception of the afterlife and a collection of hymns, spells, and instructions to allow the deceased to pass through obstacles in the afterlife. The scroll says, “Rise like Nefertem from the blue water lily, to the nostrils of Re, and come forth upon the horizon each day.”

The blue water lily was symbolic of rebirth after death. The Egyptians looked forward to their souls coming to life “like a water lily reopening”, thinking that the deceased died as the water lily closed awaiting opening with the morning sun.

In the tomb of Tutankhamun was found a wooden sculpture depicting this very moment. Nymphaeas were used to make the wreaths found on the mummy of Ramses II dating back to 2000BC.

It was Dioscorides, who called both kinds of water lily under Nymphaea, called the white kind Nymphaea, and the yellow kind Nuphar.

According to legend Clovis I, king of the Franks (482-511), who united Gaul and set up his capital at Paris, chose the lily as the emblem of his purification by baptism when he accepted Christianity (the lily symbolizing purity)

The dried flowers of certain species of Nymphaea are sometimes smoked, made into a tea, or macerated in alcohol for a mild sedative effect.