About

The FLORAPAL web site

For more information on the FLORAPAL web site and the topics listed below including analysis of data see : Sallon S, Myers D, Jamous R, Paavilineen H, Fragman-Sapir O, Abuzaitoun SY, Eisner D, Solowey E, & Ali-Shtayeh MS (2025). Florapal an ethnobotanical website of Flora Palaestina reflects changing patterns of plant use in this region during the mid-20th to 21st century. Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 31, 1–19.

FLORA PALAESTINA: Phytogeography & current status

Today Flora Palaestina consists of some 2750 species and 114 families. This rich diversity in such a relatively small area is attributed partly to the region`s unique position at the meeting of 3 plant geographical regions: Mediterranaen, Irano-Turanina and Saharo-Sindian. These conditions have given rise to a highly diverse topography, climate and soil that includes; mediterranean coast with its typical sand dune vegetation; broad expanses of alluvial soils with rich weed flora and abundant multi-regional types including Judean mountains containing mediterranean forest & maquis vegetation; Judean desert with Irano- Turanian vegetation; desert landscape containing tropical savannah, salines and rock-floored “hammadas”.

In paleo-plant geography the regional flora has undergone many changes since the Paleocene, Eocene and Oligocene periods (66-23 million years BP) with successive invasions and retreats of flora leaving behind their relics. Agriculture thought to have developed in this region during the Neolithic period (approx.10,000 BCE) has also contributed over its long history to the rich diversity of local species including wild crop relatives and progenitors of some of the world`s most important domesticated crops e.g. barley, wheat, oats, garlic, peas, lentils and chick peas.

Today however many Flora Palaestina species are seriously threatened by environmental degradation, climate change, urban expansion and an accelerating loss of wild habitat. Currently some 373 local plants (16.3%) are on the “Red List” of endangered species of which 273 species are mediterranean, significantly over-represented when compared to the whole flora of this region. In addition 30% are classified as rare and at least 34 species have become locally extinct in the last 50 years with an average Red Number of 8.6, significantly higher than the average of the current Red List. Only 15 species however have been limited to one site before extinction, indicating that rarity is not the only factor in the extinction of local flora.

FLORA PALAESTINA: Ethnobotany

For thousands of years the plants of this region have played a vital role in its economy, culture and traditions. Their many uses have included food, agriculture, medicines (human and veterinary), cosmetics, spices, perfumes, dyes, raw materials for building, clothing, basket and rope making and for ritual, ceremonial and religious observance. Medicinal plants are particularly prevalent with many descriptions of their use described particularly in the Bible , Talmud and later writings of medieval Arab and Jewish physicians Information on plant use has also been passed down verbally from generation to generation, both within local communities as well as by Jewish immigrants to Israel from Middle Eastern countries which share many of the same species as this region. This information provides an important insight into the multi-cultural and historical uses of many local species through successive generations. Today however the continuation of this tradition is seriously threatened. Local healers in both Arab and Jewish communities who once played an important role in communal life have been largely replaced by modern medical clinics, while local natural resources on which village economies were once dependent, have now been largely replaced by imported/ commercial products. Thus a rich legacy of plant use and a valuable historical tradition acquired by Jews and Arabs over thousands of years is rapidly being lost.

Preserving the Knowledge

FLORAPAL Data sources

Data on the traditional/ historic uses of plants of this region for the FLORAPALE ethnobotany web site are based on 2 sources of information; the archival Zaitschek collection translated, annotated & edited by The Natural Medicine Research Centre (NMRC) and more recent ethnobotanical surveys carried out by The Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre (BERC) in the West Bank and Gaza from1996- 2016.

The Zaitschek collection

This archive of botanical and ethnobotanical material was prepared by the late Prof David Zaitschek, a scientist at the Dept. of Botany, Hebrew University and later the Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Medicine, Jerusalem.
Collected over many years (ca.1950`s-1979) and largely unpublished during his lifetime, the collection included over 3000 specimens of labelled dried plant parts, ethnobotanical data in the form of several thousand handwritten notes mainly in Hebrew (and some German) listed alphabetically in a cardex and an extensive library.
Collected by Prof Zaitschek`s assistants (Samir Ibrahim, Khana ‘Ilabuni, Elias Mu’amar, Eitan Friedman, Aharon Fikel, Malka Gvirz & Yocheved Re’ani), this ethnobotanical information was based on interviews carried out in Israel, West Bank and Gaza. It recorded how local plants were used at that time by different communities including Palestinian Arab, Samaritan, Bedouin, Druse and Jewish immigrants from the Middle East including North Africa, Yemen and Persia.
Traditional uses were described for ≈500 plants (as well as several genera) of which 212 were classified as native Flora Palaestina species (see below) and the remainder as non-native species originating from other parts of the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. Accompanied by dried plant specimens, the species were identified at the time by Prof Avinoam Danin (1939-2015), a leading botanist & phytogeographer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and creator of the data base “Flora and Vegetation of Israel” (Flora of Israel Online) Following Prof Zaitschek`s death in 1990,  his daughter gave approval for the ethnobotanical collection to be made available for detailed study after being approached by Prof Clara Heyn (1924-1998), Director of the Natural Herbarium of Israel and one of Israel`s foremost botanists and Dr Sarah Sallon, Director of The Natural Medicine Research Centre (NMRC) at Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem.
Initially the collection was transferred under the supervision of Prof Heyn, from Prof. Zaitschek`s office to the permanent Biological Collections of the Hebrew University in the Berman-Lubin Building at the Givat Ram campus, Jerusalem.
Between 1995-2000 information on the ethnobotanical uses of the plants was translated by NMRC staff (Dr Tamara Lax) from Hebrew to English. It was then added into a data base specially designed for NMRC by David Myers  where it formed the basis of NMRC`s Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project (MEMP),  an ethnobotanical and conservation program on local flora.
The cardex containing Prof Zaitschek`s original hand written notes was subsequently returned by NMRC to join the rest of the Zaitschek collection at the permanent Biological Collections of the Hebrew University.

Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre (BERC)

Established in 2001 in the village of Til near Nablus (BERC) is a non- governmental organization whose aims include documenting and conducting research into Palestinian plant and fungal diversity,  supporting environmental protection by encouraging sustainable use of resources & disseminating scientific knowledge of plants and fungi collected by BERC for scientific, educational & conservation policy and management. From 1996-2016 BERC carried out ethnobotanical surveys in the West Bank and Gaza strip on the use of flora by local communities. This information was used to establish the “Palestinian National Inventory of Medicinal Plants: West Bank and Gaza” describing in Arabic the uses of 355 plants.

Species selection for FLORAPAL

Although the Zaitschek & BERC collections contain ethnobotanical information on introduced species, only native species were entered into the FLORAPAL based on the following sources :FLORA OF ISRAEL ONLINE (FOIO) the most extensive documentation of Israeli and Flora Palaestina species; The PLANT LIST , a working list of all known plant species produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden and other collaborators: PLANTS OF THE WORLD ONLINE the first online database providing authoritative information of the world’s flora including identification, distribution, threat status etc. developed by Kew Science. FLORA PALAESTINA: Zohary, Feinbrun- Dotham; Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem 1986. Originally published as 1931 as The Analytical Flora of Palestine this comprehensive systematic study was republished In 1966 as Flora Palaestina with its latest updated edition in  2015. DISTRIBUTION ATLAS OF PLANTS IN THE FLORA PALAESTINA AREA. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem,2004. An extensive description of the geographical distribution and frequency of Flora Palaestina species by Prof Avinoam Danin.
In total 321 species considered native to the region and their uses were entered into FLORAPALE including: 217 species in the Zaitschek collection and 204 species from BERC`s collection (ca. 100 species were common to both sources). Excluded were introduced/ “alien’ species as well as those described in the Zaitschek collection only by their genus. Nevertheless some species in the Zaitschek and BERC collections, although not strictly native, have been present in this region for hundreds of years, and were therefore included in FLORAPAL Brief discussions on their inclusion can be found in the COMMENTS section of the web site .

Preserving & updating the original information

As far as possible we tried to preserve the original language of the informants when entering  Zaitschek and BERC  data into FLORAPAL. This is particularly true of  Zaitschek data collected over 60 years ago which often employs “old fashioned” and archaic terms to describe a condition or use. These terms have been included in FLORAPALE with explanations given either in parenthesis following the original complaint or in the separate NOTES section.
The Web site however also contains additional data fields that explain and update the traditional/ historic Complaint/ Use using various terms that interpret or describe a plant`s possible or potential activity (See also Activity/ Interpretation). These fields may be helpful in drug discovery programs that use focused scientific screening methods based on ethno-directed sampling.