Flowers of Israel | Nile tamarisk

Tamarix nilotica, Nile tamarisk, Nile tamarisk,
Hebrew: אשל היאור, Arabic: لبع/هفرط

Scientific name:   Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.) Bunge
Common name:   Nile tamarisk
Hebrew name:   אשל היאור
Arabic name:   Abal/Tarfa, لبع/هفرط
Family:   Tamaricaceae, אשליים


Life form:   Phanerophyte, tree
Stems:   Shrub or small tree up to 6 m
Leaves:   Alternate, sessile, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, concave, scale
Flowers:   White oblong petals
Fruits / pods:   Capsule 4–5 mm long; seeds terete, 0.5 mm long, brown
Flowering Period:   : March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Habitat:   Desert, Salty habitats
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Saharo-Arabian
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Tamarix, the Latin name for this plant derived from the Tamaris River in Spain.

nilotica, from the valley of the Nile.
The Hebrew name:אשל, eshel, ʾḗšel, Akkadian: ašlu; Ugaritic: Eshel; Aramaic אַתְלָא‎, (atla); Arabic أَثْل‎ (ʾaṯl).

  • The standard author abbreviation Ehrenb. is used to indicate Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795 – 1876), a German biologist, microscopist, scientific explorer, and a founder of micropaleontology (study of fossil microorganisms).
  • The standard author abbreviation Bunge is used to indicate Alexander Andrejewitsch von Bunge (1803 – 1890), a German-Russian botanist.

H.B.Tristram (1822 – 1906), The Natural History of the Bible: “Abraham planted a grove (eshel) in Beersheba” (Gen.XXI.33): “Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree (eshel) at Jabesh” (I Sam. XXXI.13); but, in 1 Chron. X.12, it is called ‘elah,’ an oak. Critics are agreed that ‘eshel‘ signifies some particular tree, and the best authorities identify it with the Arabic asal, the Tamarisk tree.
No less than seven species of Tamarisk are found in Israel, and several of them in great abundance.”