Flowers in Israel: Calotropis procera, Sodom's apple (Hebrew: Ptilat Hamidbar, [פתילת-מדבר גדולה [תפוח סדום)

Calotropis procera, Sodom’s apple (Hebrew: ptilat hamidbar) grows in the hot oases around the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley regions. It is a soft-wooded, evergreen perennial shrub and is not a ‘human, friendly’ plant. In Israel, the native pollinators are carpenter bees (Xylocopa).Josephus Flavius, the Jewish historian living in the Roman period, was the first to mention the so-called Sodom-apple.He describes the destruction of Sodom, which was wiped of the map by God as punishment for the evil ways or its inhabitants (Genesis 18:16-20:29). Josephus mentions that in his day the remains of the destruction can still be seen: ‘shadows of the cities are still to be seen, as well as the ashes growing in their fruits, which fruits have a colour as if they were fit to be eaten, but if you pluck them with your hands they dissolve into smoke and ashes.'(Josephus, Jewish Wars, Book IV,8:4).Edward Robinson, who traveled in Palestine in 1838, wrote in his book Biblical Researches in Palestine and Adjacent Countries: “The fruit resembles externally a large, smooth apple, or orange, hanging in clusters of three or four together, and when ripe is of a yellow color. It was now fair and delicious to the eye and soft to the touch; but on being pressed or struck, it explodes with a puff, like a bladder or puff-ball, leaving in the hand only the shreds of the thin rind and a few fibers. It is indeed filled chiefly with air, which gives it the round form; while in the center a small slender pod runs through it which contains a small quantity of fine silk, which the Arabs collect and twist into matches for their guns.”

Medicinally, the acrid sap latex is used to treat boils, infected wounds and other skin problems in people, and to treat parasitic skin infestations in animals. [The cheese-makers in Benin, country located in western Africa (formerly called Dahomey) use the sap from Calotropis procera as the agent to curdle milk.] It also yields ash for making gunpowder, and extremely strong fiber, which may not be used as wicks for the Sabbath lamps as mentioned in the Mishna (Shabbat 2:1, ‘Bemeh madlikin’).