Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a variety of foliage is sprouting from land charred by forest fires during the Second Lebanon War.

Hundreds of Katyushas which fell during the war spawned forest fires which burned for many days on the Naphtali Mountains west of Kiryat Shmona. Over the past few months, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel has been surveying the still-charred ground to assess the potential for rejuvenation of the forests and natural woodlands and plan their treatment, with some surprising results.

As project leader Dr. Yuval Sapir toured the burned area, he discovered an unexpected denizen: a flower called rough-leaved michauxia.