Israel's History - a Picture a Day - Tu B'Shvat Special: The Trees of the Land of Israel

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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Tu B'Shvat Special: The Trees of the Land of Israel Posted: 10 Feb 2017 04:32 AM PST Pomegranate tree, hand-colored photo (circa 1900-1920) The photographers of the American Colony Photographic Department traveled the length and breadth of the Holy Land and the Middle East, from Damascus to Cairo, Malta to Iraq.  Date palm tree (circa 1900-1920) Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the originals.  Olive trees. Click here for more. Click here to see original black and white Almond tree. See original in black and white They were also fond of photographing the flora of the land of the Bible and providing the botanical genus name. Facing the 1915 plague of locusts that hit with Biblical proportions, the photographers documented the life cycle and devastating results of the swarms. "Cactus figs," called today cactus pears or "sabras" Carob tree On the eve of Tu B'Shvat, the traditional New Year for trees, we present this collection of photos of trees taken between 1900 and 1920. Some of the pictures were hand-colored 25-30 years later. Acacia (Shetim) tree in the desert Gnarled trunk of a sycamore tree   Pine trees (circa 1900)