Beyond Masada / A botanical journey to the
center of the world
In the heart of Jerusalem you can escape not just the roar of traffic but also
Israel itself, in redwood forests and African grasslands.
By Jacob Solomon | May.08, 2013 | 8:40 PM |
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Urban oasis: Jerusalem's Botanical Gardens. Photo by Moshe Gilad
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THIS STORY IS BY Jacob Solomon
Religious extremists, highly-charged politics and endless conflict. That is how Jerusalem,
at times, seems to outside observers. The city is scrutinized by media as though it were
the center of the world.
From the vantage point of the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, you may well agree that the
city is just that – the center of the universe – but for different reasons. Here is a place
where all the continents meet, from the African Savannah to tropical forests of South
America. You're transported from one continent to the other by the Flower Train, which
departs every hour from the entrance of the gardens, located in the Nayot neighborhood
near the Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus. The train's first stop – a cone-shaped
hut in a forest typical of sub-Saharan Africa. If you don’t mind waiting an hour for the
next train, you have an excellent picnic spot. The children will enjoy getting lost in the
nearby African savanna grasslands, while the more mature folk put together the food and
drink.
Leaving Africa takes you westwards into North America, without of course crossing any
ocean. This section reflects North America's vast variety of climates. Look out for the
magnolia trees, with their enormous early-summer white flowers. Botanists claim that
magnolias are among the world's most ancient trees. They appeared in nature before
bees, and were only able to reproduce through pollination by beetles. Try also to find the
Pacific-coastal redwood trees, which don't yet reach the legendary heights of their
Californian counterparts.
The domed tropical conservatory should be peeking over the treetops as you get to the
next stop. It houses the densely-vegetated, multiple-layered vegetation typical of the hot,
wet tropical forests of Central and South America. Here, competition between the plants
is not for water but for sunlight, lack of which causes them to starve as they need the light
to produce their own food by photosynthesis. The upper canopy grabs 97 percent of the
light, leaving the dense lower shrubs and grasses to struggle for the remaining three
percent. Such environments need to be under the conservatory glass, as they cannot be
reproduced outdoors. Unfortunately the conservatory was closed on my recent visit,
though you can still get a good look through the glass partitions. A notice reassures
visitors that it will be restored for 2014.
You’re on the way back to home ground as you enter the Mediterranean section. Look
carefully for a small hidden pond, which is used as a shelter for endangered species, such
as the pink autumn crocus indigenous to Israel: Colchicum feinbruniae. And check with
the visitors’ center near the entrance if you would like to sponsor the rescue of a plant
species facing extinction. Also, spot the pine trees from the Canary Islands, with their
lusher and more drooping character than our related native species.
At the next stop, on the flanks of the Biblical section, you’re jolted back into Jerusalem’s
trademark personality. Contrast the benign orange-flowering pomegranate with the more
menacing bramble, featured as kings of trees in Jotham’s famous parable: “Let the fire go
forth from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon!” (Judges 9:15). Later known
as Christ’s Thorn in connection with the crucifixion, its vicious needles stick out from the
twigs at ninety degrees, which is as near as nature gets to barbed wire. Nearby relax in
much-needed shade under the round canopy with its trellised vine tendrils and grapes in
their very early stages of growth. Stray briefly into the adjacent herb and medicinal plant
garden. Find the Ginko tree, whose natural products are said to improve failing memory.
Tropical greenhouse in the botanical garden in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.Moshe Gilad
Onto Australia with its eucalyptus trees, which were successfully transplanted to Israel in
the early twentieth-century, to help drain the coastal swamps. Here, too, one can view
species of flowers that thrive on the margins of Australia's deserts. The train passes a
small waterfall before entering the European section. The Arcadian bridge over the
stream would create a splendid backdrop for Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream." From there you are back to the start of the circuit.
Leave the train, and almost behind you is an impressive display of bonsai, whose main
300-tree collection is focused on an art form that creates sculptures using tiny potted
living trees. Research into the very subtle skills of tree nurturing for art has yielded new
botanical techniques used for the rescue and preservation of wild and endangered plant
species.
The Botanical Gardens, by the way, is there for serious as well as casual visitors. The
more energetic should take the English guided audio tour (available at the entrance) and
walk in the footsteps of Dr. Michael Avishai, the garden’s Emeritus Scientific Director,
and founder. You will be exposed to the research aspect of this project, and learn how a
vision became a reality in 1956, with the founding of the gardens. For the more biblically
inclined, there is an audio tour focusing on everything from the Forbidden Fruit of the
Tree of Knowledge to Biblical agriculture.
These gardens are an oasis of beauty in a high-powered and often high-tension city, as
well as a research center for protecting Israel's rich and increasingly threatened flora.
Whatever tour you choose, cap your visit with a coffee or a kosher, dairy meal at the
delightful Caffit restaurant right next to a tranquil pond. Popular with Jerusalem VIPs
and families alike, this spot, with its wooded backdrop and rippling water, affords a
peaceful respite only meters away from the roar of traffic along Herzog Street.
The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens are located south of the Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus. Entrance is
through the gas station at Nayot, on Herzog Street. There is ample parking space. Accessible by buses 9, 17, 19, and
32. Open daily 9:00-19:00, closing 17:00 on Fridays, and 18:00 on Saturdays. Entrance fee. The Flower Train
departs weekdays, every hour on the hour from 10:00 A.M. until 16:00 P.M., earlier on Fridays. Call 02 679 4012.