Description & Remarks

A small sub-shrub, growing on rock out rcops in Mt Carmel and in the Judean mountains.

The plant was First identified in 2018 by Oz Golan, from an unknown location in Mt Carmel (Carmia Ridge). Since then, it found in few more localities in Modi’in Hills and west of Jerusalem. It appears not to be very rare, and thus we ask how have we have missed it till now?

F. scoparia differs from the other two local Fumana species by the following characters:

• Leaves semiterete, sparsely hairy, and deciduous.
• Sterile branches thick, smooth, and green, and bears small scars from its fallen leaves.
• Leaves alternate in a whorl pattern, so that from above, they look like a rosette.

The flower is 25-30 mm in diameter, petals bright yellow (F. thymifolia has a similar colored flowers, but they are smaller : 10-15 mm, while F. arabica has larger flowers, but their color is a darker pale mustard yellow).

D. Ben-Natan and O. Fragman-Sapir, 2020