Israel wildflowers | Anastatica hierochuntica

Anastatica from Greek Anastasis, resurrection, in allusion to the fact that no mmatter how dry it may have become, the plant recovers its shape on being placed in water.

hierochuntica from the classical name of the town of Jericho.
Mary’s flower because of a legend which affirms tht all of the plants of this species expanded, became green, and blossomed again at the birth of Jesus, and still do so in commemoration of this event. The Rose of Jericho, though not a rose, whose flowers are small and white and have little beauty.

The Hebrew name: שושנת-יריחו, shoshannat-Jericho,שושנה, shoshanna (name Susannah), lily, rose, a translation of the popular name of the plant, Rose of Jericho, that was widely used in Europe.

The Hebrew word: אמיתית, amitit “true” addition comes to indicate the Christian belief that the plant is a “living plant” – a plant whose behavior is reminiscent of the return to the life of Jesus. This belief comes because the (dead) plant opens in the rain and so the seeds can be distributed.

• The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

Anastatica hierochuntica populations are associated with habitat types which collect runoff water such as runnels of different orders and depressions in flat gravelly or sandy areas of hot deserts of the Saharo-Arabian and Sudanian phytogeographical regions (Friedman and Stein, 1980; Gutterman and Shem-Tov, 1997). The seed dispersal mechanism in A. hierochuntica is highly dependent on the hygrochastic movement of the stems of the dead plant skeletons (Van Oudtshoorn and Van Rooyen, 1999 ). The characteristical root horizon of Anastatica in a natural environment is controlled by the soil moisture content, the nitrogen supply and the mechanical impedance of the soil.

• Henry Baker Tristram (1822–1906), the Natural History of the Bible: “The so-called Rose of Jericho has nothing to do with the scriptural illusions. It ia a small ligneous cruciferous plant, very inconspicuous, looking like some withered twig, which grows in the sand in the hot barren plains round the Dead Sea. It derives its botanical name from its singular property of opening its minute flowers when plunged into water months after it has been gathere. It is sought after as a relic by pilgrims.”
• James A. Duke (4 April 1929 – 10 December 2017, an American botanist), Duke’s Handbook of Medical Plants of the Bible: “O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. Psalms 83:13 (KJV).
  Folklore has it that Mary clenched this in her hand when birthing Jesus (GHA). A typical tumbleweed and resurrection plant, it occurs in sand depressions or wadis in hot deserts, like the Judaean and Negev. It is probably what was mentioned as the “wheel” in Psalms 83. Zohary calls it the true Rose of Jericho. Dry fruiting branches hygroscopically expand into the “Jericho Rose” when placed in water, even if dry for several years. The rose is sold in Middle Eastern markets as “Kaff Mariam,” (e.g., Qatar and other Arabian States and Emirates). The plant is soaked in water and, when it has unfurled, the water is drunk by the expectant mother, perhaps in hopes that the offspring will fill out as readily as the Jericho Rose, a symbol of resurrection (BAT; RIZ)”.