Botany

comes from Latin: βοτάνη = land used for grazing or grass
Is a science of plant life and a branch of biology

The importance of plants:

• • Generating a large proportion of the oxygen and food by the PHOTOSYNTHSIS.
  • PHOTOSYNTHSIS is a process that uses the energy of sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide (CO₂) into sugars, and release oxygen (O₂) into the atmosphere.
  • PHOTOSYNTHSIS takes place at the Chloroplasts that contain green chlorophyll pigments
    Chloroplasts are most abundant in leaf cells

Plant Taxonomy – Systematic botany

science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants

 (שושן צחור) For example taxonomy of Lilium candidum

Names can be given also after:

• Biblical terms: ‘Alon’ (אלון) = oak tree
• Geographic area: Carmel, Yaffo
• People names: Aaronsohnia factorovskyi (אהרונסוניית פקטורובסקי)
•  Named in 1927 by the botanists Otto Warburg after his Colleagues: Aaron Aaronsohn  and Alexander Eig.

Flora of Israel:

• About 2,600 species (out of 410,000 Globally)
• From 130 families (out of 620 Globally)
• Among them 264 species are protected by law
  

• FUNGI – A separate kingdom from Plants

  A group of eukaryotic organisms = organism whose cells have a cell nucleus and other organelles enclosed within membranes.

  • includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms.
  • Fungi are heterotrophs: they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymesinto their environment.
  • Fungi do not photosynthesise
  • Fungi live upon / within / parasite or in symbiosis (mycorrhiza): roots,, trunks, leaves of live or dead organisms, ill organisms or weak
    

    

• (שרכנים) PTERIDOPHYTA = Ferns

• Vascular plants
• With xylem for water and phloem for sugars
• Reproduces via spores – σπορά = spora, meaning seed
• Ferns first appear in the fossil record about 360 million years ago in the late Devonian period Paleozoic
• Unique life cycle with independent gametophyte and sporophyte phases
  

  

  PTERIDOPHYTA represented in Israel by two families:

  1.Equisetum = horsetail (שבטבט)

  2.Pterophyta = Ferns (שרכים)

  Equisetum: horsetail (שבטבט)

  • Remain of the late-Paleozoic forests
  • Lives in water area, riversides
  • Can be found at the Snir River Reservation – north Israel

  

  

  

  Ferns in Israel

  Ceterach officinarum  = Scaly spleenwort (דנדנה רפואית)

  Adiantum capillus-veneris =   Southern Maidenhair ((שערות שולמית

  Pteris vittata = Long brake (אברה ארוכת עלים)

(טחבים) BRYOPHITA

• Non-vascular land plants
• Limited in size
• Prefer moist habitats
• Do not produce flowers or seeds
• Alternation of generations
• Gametophyte (sexual) and sporophyte
• Reproduce via spores (נבגים)
• Their life cycles are dominated by the gametophyte(sexual) stage
• Lichenis a type of symbiotic organism.
• A composite organism that arises from algaeor cyanobacteria (Single-cell) living among filaments of multiple fungi
• Lichens come in many colours, sizes, and forms: plant-like, tiny, leafless branches, flat leaf-like structures, thin pieces that lie on the surface like peeling paint
• Lichenis a type of symbiotic organism.
• A composite organism that arises from algaeor cyanobacteria (Single-cell) living among filaments of multiple fungi
• Lichens come in many colours, sizes, and forms: plant-like, tiny, leafless branches, flat leaf-like structures, thin pieces that lie on the surface like peeling paint
• Lichenis a type of symbiotic organism.
• A composite organism that arises from algaeor cyanobacteria (Single-cell) living among filaments of multiple fungi
• Lichens come in many colours, sizes, and forms: plant-like, tiny, leafless branches, flat leaf-like structures, thin pieces that lie on the surface like peeling paint
• Lichenis a type of symbiotic organism.
• A composite organism that arises from algaeor cyanobacteria (Single-cell) living among filaments of multiple fungi
• Lichens come in many colours, sizes, and forms: plant-like, tiny, leafless branches, flat leaf-like structures, thin pieces that lie on the surface like peeling paint
• 260 species in Israel are mosses (טחבי עלים) + liverworts (טחבי כבד)
  

  

  (אצות) ALGAE

  • Large and diverse group of photosynthetic organisms
  • Most are aquatic and autotrophic
  • Algae constitute a polyphyletic (= of many races) group, since they do not include a common ancestor
  • Algae exhibit a wide range of reproductive strategies, from simple asexual cell division to complex forms of sexual reproduction.
  • Algae lack the various structures that characterize land plants, such as: leaf-like-structures,rhizoids,roots, leaves that found in vascular plants.
  • The largest and most complex marine algae are called seaweeds: red (most common: ulva=sea lettuce), green or brown
  • The most complex freshwater forms are the Charophyta, a division of green algae: Spirogyra.

  

  Economic Importance of Algae

  • Food supplement mainly in the Far East
  • Food of the future – by growing algae in the ponds and producing protein from them.
  • Producing solar energy
  • Industries & Researches: Paints, textiles, cosmetics, photography, pharmaceuticals, agar, oxidation pools, genetics studies

• Lichens (חזזיות)

  • Lichen is a type of symbiotic organism.
  • A composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria (Single-cell) living among filaments of multiple fungi
  • Lichens come in many colors, sizes, and forms: plant-like, tiny, leafless branches, flat leaf-like structures, thin pieces that lie on the surface like peeling paint

  • 

    Uses of Lichen

    • Medicine
    • Color Industry – Painting traditional Scottish fabrics
    • Perfumes
    • Flower arrangement
    • Patterns such as trees and bushes in architectur
    • Eating – Few species in the Far East
    • Smoking pipes in southern Sahara

Dr. Anat Avital

ד”ר ענת אביטל – מדריכת טיולים בכירה, חוקרת פסיפסים מהתקופות הרומית והביזנטית, ומרצה בתחומי טבע וארכאולוגיה.
בעלת מומחיות רבת־שנים, ניסיון של למעלה מ־30 שנה בהובלת קבוצות וייעוץ אישי למטיילים עצמאיים ו־ VIP בארץ ובעולם.

Dr. Anat Avital
Senior tour guide, mosaic researcher, and passionate storyteller with over 30 years of experience.
Specializing in tailor-made tours and VIP travel planning across Israel and worldwide.
Combining deep academic knowledge with warm, personal guidance – for travelers who seek meaning, depth, and unforgettable journeys.