Breakthrough in Israel's plant conservation efforts

(JNS) - One of Israel's rarest plants - the spear-leaved dogbane - is currently blooming in the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens after its extinction from the Negev Desert. The species, which now survives only in isolated areas along the Carmel coast and in the Acre Valley, was once far more widespread, including in En Avdat National Park in the Negev.

The plants currently blooming in the Botanical Gardens originate from specimens collected decades ago at En Avdat by Atai Yoffe, director of the Botanical Garden at Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed-Heh. As part of the conservation initiative, researchers have b...