Anemone (Kalaniot)
The Negev is bursting with a wave of red flowers that create a natural mosaic carpet. The Anemone is out in force and its magic captivates all of Israel. For this spectacular nature treat, families of all generations, young lovers, and youth groups flood the Negev to witness this phenomenon during the end of January and February. Cars circle the southern roads and adjacent fields searching for a splash of wildflowers that have come alive with the winter Mediterranean rainfall. Looking upon the rolling landscape are hundreds of eager nature lovers that are marching carefully among the red anemones with their cameras cocked and loaded looking for that perfect National Geographic nature photograph. The Anemone flowers are perennial geophytes and their advertisement for pollinators are its vividly colored blossoms. Their privileged pollinator, only recently discovered, is the beetle who has visionary abilities to see red in the spectrum of colors as opposed to other insects that cannot. The beetle zeros in on the advertised splash of red and lands on the identifiable landing zone marked by a central white ring. The hairy beetle then enjoys mating, eating the pollen grains, and unknowingly transferring pollen to neighboring flowers thus ensuring cross-pollination. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to witness such a sexy encounter. Finally the beautiful Anemone flower known in Hebrew as Kalanit has been given its beauty by the Hebrew word Kalah for bride. There is no denying this flower her beauty.
