Carmel presents us with flowers in all seasons. In this column we will always present one of the Carmel flowers, at the same time as it appears in the field, and you will be invited to visit it in one of the places where it blooms.

White lily

The white lily is a geophyte (*) with a bulb and an upright inflorescence stem that is 1.8-1.0 meters tall. The lily flowers are among the largest and most beautiful of Israel's wildflowers.

(*) An underground storage organ that accumulates materials and water that enable its renewal.

The white lily is one of the rarest flowers in the country and is in danger of extinction. It blooms in Israel in isolated sites in the Galilee and in Nahal Kalach in Carmel.

The white lily is found on Hebrew coins from the Second Temple period. For Christians, the lily has religious significance. It symbolizes the virginity of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and appears in many religious paintings made in Europe during the Middle Ages. During the Crusader period, many white lily bulbs were uprooted from the Land of Israel and taken to Europe, which greatly affected its distribution.

The lily's inflorescence stalk begins to develop in the fall season, in February-March, bearing 20-5 symmetrical white flowers at its top. They are about 13 cm long and emit a strong sweet scent, especially at night.

The flowering lasts about two weeks at the end of May and the beginning of June. The structure of the flower is typical of the lily family, its shape is like a large bell with 6 pure white petals in the center 6 stamens with long stamens and prominent anthers that scatter orange pollen, and between them a long petiole. They are pollinated in the country by hoverflies. During the summer, after fertilization, the flowers turn into carpels that remain in place for many months, their shaking by the wind or animals, scattering the seeds around. When autumn comes, a rosette of new leaves will appear and with it a new flowering cycle.

ID

A place to meet the flower of the week

Little Switzerland (**):

• Drive from Haifa on Abba Khushi Boulevard - Route 672,
• After the southern entrance to the university, turn right at the main entrance to Carmel Park.
• From the entrance, continue left on the road leading towards the wildlife.
• At the first bend of the road leading to Hai Bar, turn left and continue driving according to the signs for Little Switzerland, continue driving to the parking lot at the end of the road.
• Park the car and continue on foot along the marked path that descends to the Little Switzerland site.
• Down the trail you will reach a bridge that crosses the Nahal Kalach stream. Continue up the trail a few dozen meters.
• On the right side of the path between cliffs you can find a beautiful bloom of several lily species, and further up the path on the left side of the path there are additional species near appropriate signage. Up the cliff you can see additional species of the rare flower.

(**) The name "Little Switzerland" was given to the place before the establishment of the state by a group of travelers who found similarities between the green landscapes of the Carmel and the landscapes of Switzerland.

If you go to visit the flower with children, you can tell them the legend of the white lily.

The Legend of the White Lily

In distant days, when the mountains of Galilee still spoke to the stars, and Carmel was full of ancient secrets, a magical flower grew there – the white lily. It was not just any flower, but a flower that the gods themselves used to gaze at with admiration, because the moonlight was woven into its petals.

In those days, a girl named Noa lived in a small village near the Kalach stream. Noa loved to walk among the hills, but on particularly dark nights, she was afraid to leave the house. One night, while staring out the window, she suddenly saw a soft light flickering between the trees. Curious, she followed it and discovered a tall, upright white lily, whose white flowers glowed like small torches.

"How do you shine like that?" Noa asked in amazement.

"This is the gift I received from the moon," the flower whispered in the wind. "But humans have taken many of my brothers to distant lands, and now we are disappearing..."

Noa swore to protect the rare flowers. She gathered the village children and told them about the beauty of the rose and its danger of extinction. Together they created a magical fence of stones and kind words to protect the remaining roses. They also kept their location a secret, so that no crusader could uproot them again.

Since then, every late May, when the white roses bloom, you can see them lighting the way for those with pure hearts. Legends say that if you come to Nahal Kalach on a full moon night, and maintain complete silence, you will hear the roses swaying in the wind and singing a song of longing for Noah who saved them.

And so, to this day, the white lily remains the guardian of the light of the Galilee and the Carmel.