'Marova Hafim' returned to bloom in Jerusalem after 22 years

Members of the Young Green Leadership groups of the Botanical Garden returned the 'Marveh Hafim' plant to bloom in Jerusalem after they were forced to remove them in the botanical version for rescue excavations, from the Begin road construction works

The members of the Green Team - the young green leadership groups of the environmental HUB of the botanical garden, led by the chief scientist, Dr. Uri Pergman-Sapir, finished this week the rescue operation that started 22 years ago.
In 1995, just before the construction of a road that connects the south of the city to the north, in the section between Givat Ram and Givat Mordechai, where deposits of Salvia bracteata, a rare plant in danger of extinction, flourished, Dr. Uri Pergman-Sapir was called to save the plant and move him to a safe place. The plant was transferred to the botanical garden in Givat Ram where it was germinated and propagated for years.

This week, after 22 years, in a joint operation by members of the Botanical Garden's Green Team and Dr. Pergman-Sapir, who is currently the Garden's Chief Scientist, the 'Marveh Hafim' was moved to the Emek Al-Ed'amim Park.

In addition, 15 specimens of 'Salvia multicaulis' (Salvia multicaulis), which is also in danger of extinction after it was rescued from the Khirbat Torah site in the north of Israel, were also transferred for planting.

Dr. Uri Pergman-Sapir, Chief Scientist at the Givat Ram Botanical Garden in Jerusalem says: "When we received the urgent call 22 years ago to come and save an extinct plant, we did not believe it was actually happening, and here today a circle is closed and the plant has returned to its natural place - Jerusalem and there is no more suitable place From the Emek Al-Mada'im Park".

'Marveh Hafim' is a rare plant in danger of extinction from the saftanim family. Has huge, lilac flowers. During April its color turns from green to pink. The plant is sticky, bearing long, sticky glandular hairs. The flowering of the Jerusalem sage takes place between April and May. The peak of flowering comes in the days between April 24-28. In the past, the plant flourished in a number of places adjacent to Givat Ram, but these were reduced due to gardening works, massive construction, and more.

The GREEN TEAM group is the youth group of the environmental-social father in the botanical garden, an environmental project unique to the botanical garden. The members of the group, youth from Jerusalem and the region, work to deepen community involvement, the quality of the environment in the city and sustainability. The program operates as part of a personal commitment project in the city's high schools and coordinates monthly meetings where topics such as sustainable economics, circles of belonging, ecological workshops, environmental activism, the importance of plants in the ecological fabric, and more are studied.