Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: Oron Peri on February 20, 2010, 10:44:24 AM
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The Negev desert is one of the areas in Israel that remained untouched until now,
its flora and fauna are extremely rich, spring arrived earlier this year due to high temperatures lasting over the last 10 days.
Capra nubiana is a successful story, there were only a few exemplars left 40 years ago, now a days there are a few thousands thanks to an excellent breeding program, this is a young male, probably 3-4 years old.
Cistanche salsa is a large parasitic plant, it lacks leaves.
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There are different habitats, sandy areas, dry mountains up to 1000m home to a huge selection of bulbous plants.
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Erodium crassifolium makes an impressive disply, often covering large areas.
Its young tubers are edible, and used to be eaten by the Bedouins of this area.
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Quite a few species of Astragalus are growing in the Negev, here are two representatives.
Among the six species of Adonis growing in Israel, this is the only yellow colored species, it is common in the deserts.
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Fantastic thread, thanks for posting.
Its great to see the plants in the wild
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Oron that parasitic plant is just stunning,jewels in the desert.Awsome photos
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It is incredible to me, to see such special plants growing in a desert region. I showed my family the photos, they were particularly impressed by the strange and wonderful Cistanche. My favorite is the Leontice, gorgeous!
Are the handsome Adonis and Erodium annual species?
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Oron,
wunderful and amazing - I'm hungry for resorbing more marvelous impressions from an alien area. :o
Thank you in advance for showing us more pictures ;) :D
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Amazing pictures Oron !
Never thought the desert could hide so many treasures !! :D
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Thanks everyone, glad you like it.
Mark, the Adonis is annual, the Erodium is a perennial growing from small tubers.
Here are two members of the Araceae , Eminium spiculatum ssp. negevense which is a smaller, less colorfull form of the species and the tiny, extremely rare Biarum olivieri, known only from very few locations in the Negev and North Egypt, it grows in pure sand, seeds develop underground or just showing their heads above ground level.
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Other small bulbous plants
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Helianthemum vesicarium is a beauty, unfortunately it refuses to live out of its native place.
Sorry some of the photos are out of focus dew to the strong wind.
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Waow !
and you call it a Desert ?? ;D :o
I'd like to see the fertile areas ;)
The Cistanche is really fantastic, as well as Eminum and Erodium and.....
Please sent us some more pics.
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Oron a very interesting thread. Fantastic plants 8)
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A :o wonderful :o thread Oron; thank you. All of these plants are superb, but maybe for me the geophytes are best of all!
What does the Cistanche parasitise?
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Beautiful Oron!!
Now I also have to go after you to the Negev >:( ;D ;)
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Incredible, such colourful flowers in this try area. :o
I`m surprised to see the pict of Eminium spicatum. It should be distributed to the south to Egypt, but very rare. One more happy reason for your wonderful trip are the seeds on Biarum !
Many thanks for showing these unique picts !!!
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S U P E R B!!
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thanks for this thread!
you know, its no surprise to me to see wonderful plants in the desert, since i have a long love and fascination for deserts and their plants, but i have never seen plants from this region--i don't know why--if you watch a show about native people in southern u.s./mexican deserts, there will usually at least be some passing mention of desert plants, but in programs about israel/surrounding countries, they'd let you think nothing grows at all!
so many beauties, arums especially fascinating..
how cold is winter in this area?
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Oron, your photos are great. I just hope that something is still left to see when I visit Israel in early April - perhaps in the mountains?.
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What does the Cistanche parasitise?
Ashley,
It parasite different plants belonging to the Chenopodiaceae, often on Atriplex.
how cold is winter in this area?
Cohan
The highest mountains are about 1000m and night temperatures often go below zero during winter months, in a good year it might even get some snow .
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Oron, your photos are great. I just hope that something is still left to see when I visit Israel in early April - perhaps in the mountains?.
Thanks Richard,
Early April is still a good time to see flowers here, in particular up in the mountains, consider that some species of bulbous plants bloom about two months later than in lower altitudes.
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Wow! Oron!
Thanks for taking us with you to the desert! Some amazing plants here.
I especially like those astragalus plants.
cheers
fermi
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Thanks for some lovely pictures of some beautiful flowers.
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Great pics,thanks for sharing! :o
This desert is more floriferous I expected - visited it once about 20 years ago (April 1990) but except Capra nubiana I did not see any of those beauties.
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I didn't think there were so many plants in Negev desert :o And in addition, so pretty :D Thanks Oron
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Great 8)
Eric
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Thanks so much Oron for this thread - so illuminating :o as to the plants that grow there. I will be checking back often on this particular thread.
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Orin,
תמונות תודה רבה
Frazer
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Weather was not favoured for taking photos today, it is cloudy and hot, never the less i have decided go back to the Negev, this time the North Eastern and Eastern parts.
The N.E. receive more rain falls generally there for Fritillaria persica grows there in large quantities.
This form is also known as F. arabica, there is a big variation in color and shape of the flower.
Here are just a few samples going from white to very dark choclate color.
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Oron, all I can say is WOW! :o :o
Fantastic color variation, all are beatiful. Are the yellow flowers in the background Leontice?
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Thanks Mark, it is Leontice.
Three Muscari were in bloom M. neglectum, M. comosum and the gigantic Leopoldia[muscari] longipes.
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Again breathtaking pictures Oron !! :o :o
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There is a reason for this unusual traffic sign...
There are still plenty of Camels wondering around.
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Lovely pictures Oron - fauna as well as flora! We saw a very young camel when we were in Egypt and I really wanted to bring him home with me!
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One of the few Convolvulus growing there and the early Allium orientale.
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Lovely pictures Oron - fauna as well as flora! We saw a very young camel when we were in Egypt and I really wanted to bring him home with me!
Thank you Gail,
If you would like i can send you one, at this time of the year they are still small and can accommodate easily in a large box ;)
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Oron
Thanks for posting - I hope there are a lot more to come.
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These are very common
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Oron
Thanks for posting - I hope there are a lot more to come.
Arthur
There are close to 1000 species growing in the Deserts here so just stop me when you had enough... ;) ;D
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Folks, there are enchanting Iris pictures from this latest trip of Oron to the Negev... they are posted in the onco Iris thread here:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4755.msg139989#msg139989
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Ranunculus asiaticus in the middle of a Reboudia pinnata carpet
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Ixiolirion tataricum and the odd looking Nigella
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Just found this new thread of you Oron.
It gives me a total different insight about a "desert" where one never would suspect so many beautiful flowers.
The Iris are great ( in the other thread) and the Capra so strange and the Adonis (is it an annual? ) and the Fritillaria and all the other plants .. Fantastic!
One question: I always am told that the camels you show are dromedaries?
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Oron,
wunderful to view your "Desert Safari"! ;D
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One question: I always am told that the camels you show are dromedaries?
That's right;
The dromedary or Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) = one hump
The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) = two humps
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Thanks for this continuing adventure Oron. Did you say 1000 species grow there .... that must be 980 to go!
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One question: I always am told that the camels you show are dromedaries?
That's right;
The dromedary or Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) = one hump
The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) = two humps
Gail ,
am I sitting on a Camelus dromedarius or on a C. bactrianus - nearly 50 years ago ?
Otto.
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Oron
Can you tell me what this plant is ? I photographed it in the Arava desert in January 1998 when I was on my way to Masada.
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Tom
It is Blepharis ciliaris, belongs to the Acanthaceae.
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One question: I always am told that the camels you show are dromedaries?
That's right;
The dromedary or Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) = one hump
The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) = two humps
Gail ,
am I sitting on a Camelus dromedarius or on a C. bactrianus - nearly 50 years ago ?
Otto.
Fantastic photo Otto, where was it taken? [looks like Jaffa]
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Thanks for this continuing adventure Oron. Did you say 1000 species grow there .... that must be 980 to go!
Thanks Tony, well, not all the 980 left worth a photo....maybe only 700 :)
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Gail ,
am I sitting on a Camelus dromedarius or on a C. bactrianus - nearly 50 years ago ?
Otto.
Hi Otto,
Great picture of you on a Camelus dromedarius!
I tried to find a pic of C. bactrianus but only have a head shot, although you can see the difference by the heads - Bactrian camal are much more hairy. (see http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bactrian-camel.html)
I loved the mounted police in Egypt!
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Thank Goodness Maggi put a link to this amazing thread in the Frit thread otherwise I would have missed it. My notify button dosen't always work properly.
Truly the desert will bloom after some rain. A thousand thanks Oron.
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I love the last picture too, the mounted policeman. A little different from the Canadian version. :D
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I love the last picture too, the mounted policeman. A little different from the Canadian version. :D
are you sure? this photo could be from calgary! ;)
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The two camelspecies interbreed easily, they are called Tulus or Bukhts and are bigger than their parents. There is even doubt if there has ever been a wild form of dromedarius.
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I love the last picture too, the mounted policeman. A little different from the Canadian version. :D
are you sure? this photo could be from calgary! ;)
Camelus calgariensis?
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are you sure? this photo could be from calgary! ;)
What? A sly reference to "the blue-eyed sheiks" of the 1980's?
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Thank's Oron to show us that Negev desert, like many other so called deserts, is very coloured !
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are you sure? this photo could be from calgary! ;)
What? A sly reference to "the blue-eyed sheiks" of the 1980's?
hah! very good, much more sly than i was attempting to be ;)
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One question: I always am told that the camels you show are dromedaries?
That's right;
The dromedary or Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) = one hump
The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) = two humps
Gail ,
am I sitting on a Camelus dromedarius or on a C. bactrianus - nearly 50 years ago ?
Otto.
Fantastic photo Otto, where was it taken? [looks like Jaffa]
Oron , the photo was taken in Egypt in 1962 - pity not near Jaffa , I would dearly love to see my birthplace- Jerusalem , once more in my lifetime , but doubt if I will .
Otto.
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Otto,
I really hope you would decide to visit Jerusalem again, we have two things in common, both born in this city [my family has been there since 1704], and both fascinated about bulbous plant, so we can make a great tour together.
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Few more photos,
Anchusa azurea
Echium angustifolium
Alkanna strigosa
Echiochilon fruticosum
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Goodness Otto, I had no idea you were born in Jerusalem. I thought you were only German.
I'll be phoning you at lunchtime today to say...you know what. ;D About 12.30 your time.
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The red Echium is very nice and I really like that rather untidy Echiochilon.
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Yesterday I went to the Northern part of the Negev desert in order to see Drimia undulata [Syn. Urginea undulata] in flower.
This summer is the hottest summer ever recorded in the east Mediterranean, still some plants are in bloom despite these conditions.
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Drimia undulata is the first bulbous plant to bloom in the E. Mediterranean starting as early as the beginning of August when temperatures can be easily above 40c.
It is really difficult to notice it in the wild as its colors and measures blend perfectly with its surroundings.
The leaves will appear only after the first rain that will arrive 2-5 months from now.
Some years it doesn't rain at all or not sufficient and so bulbs and seeds remain dormant for another year.
After walking two and a half hours under the boiling sun i finally found a few plants.
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Drimmia undulata is the first bulbous plant to bloom in the E. Mediterranean starting as early as the beginning of August when temperatures can be easily above 40c.
It is really difficult to notice it in the wild as its colors and measures blend perfectly with its surroundings.
The leaves will appear only after the first rain that will arrive 2-5 months from now.
Some years it doesn't rain at all or not sufficient and so bulbs and seeds remain dormant for another year.
After walking two and a half hours under the boiling sun i finally found a few plants.
Cool plant Oron (Drimmia undulata), or should I say it's a hot plant? I'm sure I can speak for everyone viewing this, your efforts; 2-1/2 hours of searching in the hot summer desert to find this chameleon plant, is truly appreciated. Interesting wasp in that 1st Drimmia photo too. I'm surprised that you can find a number of plants still in flower, I think Aellenia hierochuntica is another cool (hot) looking plant. I wonder if anyone can grow Drimmia undulata [syn. Urginea undulata] given the extreme conditions in which it grows.
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Quite easy to grow for me but with other mediterranean bulbs, not with such hot summer !
It grow's also in Corsica, Morroco,.... and is flowering now in France
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Thanks Mark
As Fred added, its distribution includes North Africa, Corsica and S. Spain.
It can be grown under colder conditions in well drained soil and planted with its nose above or at the soil level.
At the Jerusalem Botanic Garden it even receive snow in winter.
Personally i think it is better be grown for its lovely leaves that last all winter.
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Oron:
The middle picture of Drimia undulata has a insect in it. What is it?
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Oron:
The middle picture of Drimia undulata has a insect in it. What is it?
Arnold
It is a bee, but I'm afraid i don't know which species. [Might be a Eucera]
From the about twenty thousand species of bees existing, you can find in Israel around a thousend.
Many of these have been described but do not have a scientific name yet.
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Oron:
Could be close.
http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/30423681.jpg
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Personally i think it is better be grown for its lovely leaves that last all winter.
What BRILLIANT!!! leaves. 8)
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Yesterday I went to the Northern part of the Negev desert in order to see Drimia undulata [Syn. Urginea undulata] in flower.
This summer is the hottest summer ever recorded in the east Mediterranean, still some plants are in bloom despite these conditions.
fascinating that some plants flower at this time of year rather than waiting till the cooler/wetter season..i guess its all about trying to compete for pollinators?
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Like Lesley said the leaves are stunning and worth growing mainly for the leaves.
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Today another visit to the Negev, this time to the high area, to find a Crocus which i will show later in the Crocus thread.
On the way there i first crossed a group of 16 wild Persian donkeys [Equus hemionus ongar].
There pairs where brought to Israel in the late sixtees from Denmark and other three pairs where caught in the wild in Iran in the early seventies, today there are about a hundred individuals, most of them were introduced to the Negev, they are hard to notice.
In the dry valleys it is possible to see some very old Pistacia atlantica trees, most of them are hundreds of years old, a sad memory of the Mediterranean climate that used to be in that area many decades ago.
Unfortunately they do not germinate any more since there is not enough rain.
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A unique Ferula, F. biverticillata blooms in Autumn before the leaves which will appear after the rains.
It is a rare plant.
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In one location there is a large group of gigantic Drimia maritima, inflorescence reach 1.9m in height having huge bulbs, some almost the size of a football.
One bulb was cut in two, drying out in the sun, amazingly it produces new bulblets.
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Drimmia undulata flowering seoson is over now, it is in fruit and spreading its seeds already.
Near by Pancratium sikenbergeri is just appearing to bloom till mid November.
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A fascinating area Oron, thanks for showing us. I had to have three looks before I found the donkeys ;D
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A fascinating area Oron, thanks for showing us. I had to have three looks before I found the donkeys ;D
Only three...not bad... ;)
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Oron great to see,the pancratium is wonderful.
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Oron,
it must have been fascinating to see such rare Onager passing by. It is still a very endangered species.
I find the Drimia maritima impressive! 8)
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Superb Oron !
I also love the Pancratium... only seen the fabulous leaves but the flowers are not bad too ;)
I'm looking forward to seeing your crocus ....
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Thank you all,
Here is another one i forgot, Prospero hanburyi, its pedicals become much longer as seed capsules are about to open.
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Oron,
How does Drimia maritima differ to Eremurus?
Great to see what plants can withstand such drought and heat.
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Good question, Pat! It's this sort of thingthat keeps taxonomists in work, isn't it?!!
I suggest a read of the PBS pages, which are often invaluable for their information.........both Drimia and Urginea are in Hyacinthaceae and Urginea is now considered by many to be included in Drimia .
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Drimia
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Urginea
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Eremurus is in Asphodelaceae
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Good question, Pat! It's this sort of thingthat keeps taxonomists in work, isn't it?!!
I suggest a read of the PBS pages, which are often invaluable for their information.........both Drimia and Urginea are in Hyacinthaceae and Urginea is now considered by many to be included in Drimia .
So what Oron calls Drimia maritima is what was previously called Urginea maritima
http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?accepted_id=305015&repSynonym_id=288627&name_id=305015&status=true (http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?accepted_id=305015&repSynonym_id=288627&name_id=305015&status=true)
And as Oron is clearly very upto date with taxonomy ;D ;)
what he calls Prospero was previously included in part of Scilla.
http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?accepted_id=285272&repSynonym_id=288712&name_id=285272&status=true (http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?accepted_id=285272&repSynonym_id=288712&name_id=285272&status=true)
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So what Oron calls Drimia maritima is what was previously called Urginea maritima
http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?accepted_id=305015&repSynonym_id=288627&name_id=305015&status=true
Fascinating.... it has been both Scilla (Scylla ) AND Charybdis! :o
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Fantastic flora... and fauna ;D Thanks Oron !
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Most welcome Nicole and thank you Meggi for the links.
And as Oron is clearly very upto date with taxonomy ;D ;)
what he calls Prospero was previously included in part of Scilla.
Not an easy task Diane, for each new name i learn , ten names are being deleted automatically...
Probably the age or my brain is just transforming to become a bulb ;)
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Most interesting topic Oron !! :o
Hard to believe that a desert can be such a lively place... :D
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Oron, if your brain is like Drimia maritima bulb..... :o ;D
Thank's for this Negev post, as it's really a fantastic area.
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A super thread Oron, what temperatures are we talking about in the Negev at this time of year?
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A super thread Oron, what temperatures are we talking about in the Negev at this time of year?
Thank you you Shelagh
Temperatures this week in the Upper area, are about 16c night 27c during the day with 30% humidity.