Syrian Hartwort

Tordylium syriacum

Tordylium
syriacum is a very
rare species in Israel. It has been found in a very small number of sites, in only  four regions – Hermon (En Qiniye, April 1971), Upper Galilee (Mt Canaan, 1956), Acre Valley and the Carmel Coast (the data in Flora Palaestina from the Carmel is misleading because the plant was collected on the Carmel Coast near Tira in 1926). During the past 50 years, it has not been found in the Galilee, the Carmel Coast or in the Acre Valley,
and it is probably extinct in these regions. The sites were carefully surveyed
and the species was not found in them.

Apparently grows mainly on terra rossa patches in rainy
mountains, but has also been collected from field margins and heavy soils.

Tordylium syriacum is a medium-sized genus that includes 18 species, all of them annuals,
whose distribution area is in the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East. The
center of its distribution is in Turkey, where 15 species grow. In Israel, there are two species:  T. aegyptiacum, which is a
relatively common field plant that creates dominant patches on alluvial soils in transition zones and in hot valleys in the Mediterranean
region. The other species is T. syriacum
– the species discussed here. The genus belongs to a large tribe in the
Umbelliferae family that has
characteristic flattened coin-like fruit. Peucedanum, Malabaila and Tordylium are
three genera related to Tordylium in Israel.

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Tordylium
syriacum has not been found for decades in
western Israel, and it is probably extinct. Populations have disappeared from known sites, probably due to the modernization of farming methods in heavy soil fields.

A special rare plant survey should be conducted in an attempt to find Tordylium syriacum. The survey should focus on traditionally
cultivated heavy soils in northern Israel. If it is not found, reintroduction to the edges of heavy soil
fields on the Carmel Coast or on the coast of the Western Galilee, from seeds of Syrian or southern Turkey origin, should be considered.

The global distribution of Tordylium
syriacum is limited to southern Turkey, Cyprus, the Mediterranean area in Syria and Lebanon, and northern Israel. Thus, the
species is endemic to the Middle East.

Tordylium syriacum is an extremely
rare annual species, which has been found only in a very small number of sites in northern Israel, on deep valley
soils, a habitat that is
threatened by development and the transition to intensive agriculture with extensive pesticide use. It may have become extinct in western Israel. Efforts should be invested to
find it in its habitat and to prioritize its preservation.