Giant Orchid discovered for the first time in Israel

During a walk in the Jerusalem forests near Mevsaret Zion, a volunteer from the Hebrew University's botanical garden staff made a surprising discovery with a friend when they stumbled upon an orchid almost 20 inches tall: a "Giant Orchid," the first time this species has been discovered in Israel.

Gabi Peleg and Ofra Laron shared photos of flowers in the Botanical Garden WhatsApp group. Among the photographs they sent, one of them particularly caught the attention of the experts: a large orchid of 20 inches, whose flowers were pink and different from those they know. The lower petal of the flower was also elongated.

The Botanical Garden's chief scientist, Dr. Uri Fergman-Sapir, and botanist Ohad Binyamini identified the Giant Orchid, a large flower known throughout the Mediterranean Basin - from Cyprus to Spain.

"For my birthday, I decided to go for a walk in the forest near my house with a friend. These days, everything is blossoming and colorful, it's really pleasant to see. One large flower sparked my curiosity and of course, as a volunteer at the botanical garden, I immediately passed it on to the experts who were very enthusiastic," said Binyamini.

The botanical garden team will now survey the area in question to learn more about the orchid.

“Time will tell if the appearance of this flower in the Judean Mountains is a one-off episode or if there are many more that have simply not been located until today,” said Dr. Fergman-Sapir.

It is a robust plant, which can exceed 20 inches in height, with dense inflorescence, frequent in the Mediterranean region from the end of winter to the beginning of spring, where it can be found in particular on the grassy slopes of the edges of roads or paths. Since the year 2000, this species has been observed more and more often in France outside the Mediterranean zone.