Flora Palaestina – The Plants and their Uses

Flora Palaestina - The Plants and their Uses

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term first used by Linneus in 1756, is the botanical description of plants native to the area of the Holy Land, today comprising Israel, The Palestinian Authority, Gaza and Jordan. The Flora Palaestina, Ethnobotanical Uses (FPEU) web site is a joint undertaking by Israeli and Palestinian researchers to document how selected species from this region have been traditionally used, based on information collected over the last 70 years. The Israeli contribution is by The Natural Medicine Research Center (NMRC) and is based on an archival ethnobotanical collection (1935 -1971) of the late Prof David Zaitschek, a scientist at the School of Pharmacy, Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Medicine. The Palestinian contribution is by The Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre, (BERC) at Til, Nablus and is derived from ethnobotanical surveys carried out by BERC between 1996 and 2006 in the West Bank and Gaza on the use of local medicinal plants in Traditional Arabic Palestinian Herbal Medicine (TAPHM). (See ABOUT)

Work on the FPEU began in 2016 with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Middle East Regional Cooperation Program (MERC) (Award No: SIS70015GR36010). Additional funding was generously provided by the Gartner Family foundation (USA).

The aim of the FPEU web site is to act as an educational and research tool in order to preserve the valuable knowledge of plant use in this region for future generations while also contributing to the long term conservation of its flora. FPEU is not a recommendation for the practical use of these plants (See DISCLAMER).

Contributors to the web site include : Dr Sarah Sallon, Director, The Natural Medicine Research Centre (NMRC) Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO) Jerusalem. Prof. Dr. Mohammed Saleem Ali-Shtayeh, Director, Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre, (BERC) Til, Nablus Dr. Rana Jamous, Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre, (BERC), Til, Nablus Dr Helen Paavilinain Ethnobotanist and linguist Dr Ori Fragman, Chief scientist, Jerusalem Botanical Gardens (JBG). Mr David Myers, web site design.

Photo gallery was provided by Dr. Ori Fragman (JBG)and staff at BERC and NMRC.

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