Michael Zohary

Michael Zohary (* 1898, † April 15, 1983 ) was an Israeli botanist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Zohary ".

Life and work

Michael Zohary 1920 emigrated from Europe to Israel. In 1926 he started at the newly founded Hebrew University of Jerusalem, together with Alexander Eig and Naomi Feinbrun to work on the flora of Israel and the neighboring countries in the Middle East. He thereby discovered the principle of Antitelechorie in desert plants. In 1936, he completed a doctorate on this phenomenon at the Charles University in Prague.

His main interest has always been the flora of Israel. He published seven major monograph other to the genera clover ( Trifolium ), the pistachio ( Pistacia ) and tamarisk ( Tamarix ). He also wrote the first two volumes of Flora Palaestina ( Pteridophyta and Dialypetalae, 1966 and 1972). In 1962 he wrote The Plant Life of Palestine and 1973 Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East.

Zohary emeritus in 1967, continued his work in the herbarium continued but. His latest book, Plants of the Bible was published a few weeks before his death.

In 1954 he was awarded the Israel Prize.