Israel's indigenous sorrel Rumex rothschildianus has very few safe havens. It can currently be found in only a few sites around Herzliya and Netanya, and even these are now in danger of turning into building sites.

The botanical garden at the Hebrew University's Mt. Scopus campus may ensure the plant's survival. The plant is being raised there, and if it indeed disappears from nature, the seeds of specimens in the garden may be reintroduced to protected sites.

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However, attempts to save this and other rare plants may prove fruitless: Garden employees and senior botanists are afraid the Hebrew University has lost interest in the place, and wants to turn it into yet another standard public space.

Last week, the university held a hearing for four garden workers who were to be dismissed. Botanists and nature preservation groups fear the dismissal of the workers, including garden manager Miri Ron, spells an end to the garden in its current form. They say that if the garden has no professional workers familiar with Israel's indigenous plants, it cannot be maintained.

Prof. Avi Shmida of the Hebrew University, one of the foremost experts on Israeli flora, says that when the garden was set up in 1931 by Prof. Alexander Eig, a pioneering Israeli botanist, it was unique the world over - it was the first garden to group plants according to their geographic origin.

"My father planned the garden so that it would contain plants from Israel as well as neighboring countries," his daughter Eliezra Eig-Zakov says. She was less than a year old when her father passed away, and now works to preserve the garden. She says the garden survived the period when Mt. Scopus was an enclave in Jordanian territory, cut off from the rest of Jerusalem. The only thing that did not survive was a grove of cedars her father had smuggled from Lebanon.

"This is also an important place historically, since two of the fathers of Zionism are buried there, Ussishkin and Pinsker," Eig-Zakov adds.

Israel has are other botanical gardens, including one at the Hebrew University's Givat Ram campus, those at Tel Aviv University and that of the agricultural school on Mikve Yisrael. However, the Mt. Scopus garden contains the national collection of native Israeli plants, which totals hundreds of species.

"The importance and uniqueness of this garden is that it contains the fullest representation of Israeli plants," Shmida says. "It constitutes an important focus for research and teaching, and preserves the historical heritage of botanical research in Israel, in addition to helping preserve rare species."

Aside from the Rumex rothschildianus, the garden contains several other rare species that have almost disappeared from nature. One of them is the Mosheovia galilaea. It was named for Gershon Moshaiov, a promising botanist killed during the 1936-1939 riots, Shmida says. The Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority hopes to reintroduce these plants to nature with the assistance of the Mt. Scopus garden.

"This is a modest plant, and its flower tends to hide, but it is important to preserve because it is so unique and rare - much more so than the narcissus or the anemone, for example," Shmida says.

Hidden intentions

The Hebrew University management refused to comment on the botanists' fears. It responded by saying merely that it was aware of the great importance in maintaining, developing and improving the garden because of its historical and botanical value, but that the garden was not in satisfactory condition and therefore needed to be improved and upgraded.

Nevertheless, Shmida is convinced that all signs indicate the university is not interested in maintaining it.

"I feel that the university management is hiding its true intentions. It does not state what exactly it has decided about the garden. Over the last few years, it did not work to ensure the garden would be managed by a professional committee, as is done with botanical gardens around the world. Now there is this matter of the dismissal of the workers."

The garden's advocates fear the university plans to put it in the care of a subcontractor, as part of the process to turn it into a regular garden.

"That would mean the end of the garden," says Shmida. "The people who take care of it must understand wildflowers like those who work there today. If you care for the weeds but you don't know the flowers, you will destroy what must be preserved."

Shmida points out that the botanical garden is cared for today by a small team that maintains it as a place for research and nature preservation.

"These people are not even employed there full-time. At gardens of this size around the world, dozens of people do that work. If there are budgetary problems, one can seek donations. In other places, botanical gardens receive a great deal of donations. Of course, the university must commit itself to preserving the garden as a place for research and instruction."

"When Mimi Ron was put in charge of the garden, it returned to its previous good condition," says Eig-Zakov. "Clearly more should be invested in it, but I'm afraid the university is going to turn it into some kind of fossil, and the reason for this is not clear to me. Perhaps they intend to use the land for real estate. I really do not know, but we must not give up this place, the first botanical garden in the country and one of the first in the Middle East."