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A perennial plant, found in cliffs and rock crevices. Flowers green and not showy.
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A poisonous shrub with white sap. Leaves thick rounded, opposite. Flowers starrry, violet. Fruits inflated, looks like short fat bananas, but are acturally hollow. Seeds tufted, wind dispersed.
Common in topical S Asia.
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Crucianella ciliata is a slender annual of the desert mountains of the Middle East.
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A tiny coastal annual, locally endangered in Israel.
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This is the fruit of an extreme desert perennial. It has poisonous white sap, so no animals harm it.
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This shrub's common name is Apple of Sodom. The huge fruits are hollow, full of seeds and hairs. The whole plant has milky sap that is poisonous, and also a nice wrinkly bark. It is a subtropical plants that reaches its north border in Israel. Near the Dead Sea (where this pic was taken) it is common.
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Crucianella macrostachya is a shy annual. The flwoer open in the night and in rare cloudy days they remain open in the morning. I was lucky to see them this way.
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This South african succulent blooms once a year. Each flower is really impressive, attracting flies with its unpleasant scents.
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This is a poisonous climber, found in the extreme desert, where there is only 30-50 mm of rain every year. In this pic you can see its strange looking fruit, that is full with seed.
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Calotropis procera (apple of Sodom) is extremely common and dominant in Rhajastan, this is due to overgrazing and its toxicity.
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A common annual in desert sands. Often creeping or semi-erect. Drying inflorescence bracts typically curved outwards.
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Periploca aphylla us a l3afo3ss desert shrub. Here u can see its stinky black flowers (fly pollinated) and its sissors-like fruit.
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Caralluma europaea var. judaica is found in the arid part of the Mediterranean region in Israel, penetrating also the semidesert. It occurs always is rock crevices. Eli Becker form the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens directed us to this site, at the Valley of the Cross in the middle of Jerusalem. It occurs there naturally among the rocks,, just beyond the church fence.
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Crucianella membranacea is a nice desert annual, growing primarily in sands.
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Pterogaillonia calycoptera is a desert perennial of S Israel. It has typical bract pairs.
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Caralluma europaea var. judaica is found in the arid part of the Mediterranean region in Israel, penetrating also the semidesert. It occurs always is rock crevices. Eli Becker form the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens directed us to this site, at the Valley of the Cross in the middle of Jerusalem. It occurs there naturally among the rocks, just beyond the church fence. A few days ago I posted a close up of the flower.
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Cruciata articulata is a common Mediterranean annual in Israel. The inflorescence structure is so very complicated and beautiful.
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Pterogaillonia calycoptera is a perennial of the extreme desert. It has tiny flowers, here u can see them is 1:1 closeup.
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Caralluma europaea ssp judaica is one of the few succulents that originate in South Africa, and crossed the Sahara to the Mediterranean basin.
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Cruciata articulata is a common Mediterranean annual. Here u can see its tiny flowers.
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Stapelia gigantea has huge flowers with an unpleasant scent.
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Caralluma europaea var. judaica grows in the rocky arid Mediterranean zone and penetrates the desert as well.
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Cruciata pedemontana is a widespread annual, found in S Europe to Afghanistan. In Israel it is extremely rare and threatened mainly due to cattle grazing.
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This is another gentianoid I found in the high altitudes on the way to Huanglong Park. Perhaps it is Swertia species.