Oblivious to war, Israel’s iconic red anemone blooms again along the Gaza border
The flower is the first of five species of bowl-shaped red blossoms with black centers that bloom one after the other, so as not to compete for pollinating beetles
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
There is one period of pilgrimage in the Land of Israel’s calendar that has nothing to do with the Bible.
From January through April, Israelis take to the deserts, the coasts and the Mediterranean hills to wonder at the remarkable bloom of the flowers of spring.
Tu Bishvat, the Jewish Arbor Day, which this year falls on Thursday, January 25, is most often associated with the blossoming of the almond tree, which is replete with symbolism and is mentioned several times in the Bible.
But the almond is not the only plant to impress with its flowers now. The red crown anemone (Anemone coronaria, or calanit in Hebrew) — Israel’s national flower — carpets fields along the Gaza border area at this time of year, usually drawing large crowds to the “Darom Adom” (“Red South”) festival.
Many of these sites of grace and beauty have now become associated with the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, which led to the ongoing brutal war in Gaza.
These include Kibbutz Be’eri, where terrorists murdered more than 130 people in cold blood on October 7, and Kibbutz Re’im, near the site where 360 mostly young people at a music festival were murdered, raped and mutilated by marauding Hamas gunmen.
This year, to symbolize rebirth and bring some income into the area, a limited Darom Adom will be held in February, without the word “festival,” and with a small number of commemorative events.
Most flowering plants depend on other living creatures to carry their pollen to the female reproductive organ of another plant of the same species. The flower is the “advertisement.” It usually offers the pollinator an incentive to visit. Flowers have evolved colors and shapes to suit their pollinators.
Most insects cannot see red. But the beetles that pollinate the crown anemone are an exception.
The anemone sports open, bowl-shaped flowers to suit beetles, which are drawn to the red color, but are rather clumsy. They land on the flower and then roll down towards the black center, where the pollen is located.
There’s a theory that the black dot resembles other beetles and therefore indicates that there must be good food there.
On a sunny day, the anemone will track the sun’s movement across the sky. It closes when the sun goes down or when it is cloudy to protect its dry pollen. Beetles will often jump in before they close, to enjoy protection from the rain. The pollen that they feast on covers their bodies and is transferred to other flowers when the beetle moves on.
In Israel, several red flowers bloom one after the other, so that each gets the pick of the beetles without too much competition.
Five wildflowers share a distinctive red bowl shape with a black center. The crown anemone appears first, followed by the small pheasant’s eye and tulips. The turban buttercup and the poppy flower last.
Crown anemones can be found in carpets from the center to the south of the country, where soils are fast-draining. They also grow in the northern hills, where varieties in white, pink, and purple can sometimes also be found, especially on soils that are good at retaining water.
Anemones of many colors draw crowds to the entrance to Megiddo Airport in the Jezreel Valley, in northern Israel. According to one Israeli internet site that specializes in wildflowers, however, these were introduced by humans.
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