Search Plants by Name
Type Common Name in English,
Arabic or Hebrew
FLORAPAL is an ethnobotanical web site of “Flora Palaestina”, a botanical term, first used in 1756 by Linnaeus, the “father of modern botany” to describe plants native to the Holy Land, today comprising Israel, Palestinian Authority (West Bank & Gaza) and Western Jordan. For thousands of years knowledge on traditional uses of these plants, passed down through generations of Jewish and Arab communities have played a vital role in this region`s culture & economy- as food, medicine, cosmetics, spices, perfumes, dyes, raw materials and for ceremonial and for religious uses.
FLORAPAL is as an educational and research tool helping preserve this valuable knowledge for future generations while contributing to long term conservation of its flora.
FLORAPAL is a collaboration between the Natural Medicine Research Center (NMRC) at Hadassah Medical Organization, Jerusalem, Israel and The Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre (BERC), Nablus, Palestinian Authority.
FLORAPAL`s information on the traditional uses of 321 native plants is based on 2 data sources : NMRC`s translation & updating of the “Zaitschek” ethnobotanical archive, compiled by the late Prof David Zaitschek of Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School on plant use by local Jewish and Arab communities from 1950s -1970s; ethnobotanical surveys carried out by BERC in 1996 and 2016 in the West Bank and Gaza on local plant use based on Traditional Arabic Palestinian Herbal Medicine (TAPHM).