Gagea Commutate

  • Issue: July 2005
  • Designer: Ruth Elhanan (Malka)
  • Stamp Size: 20 mm x 25.7 mm
  • Plate no.: No phosphor bars Phosphorescent Coated paper
  • Sheet of 50 stamps Tabs: 10
  • Printers: Joh. Enschede, Holland
  • Method of printing: rotogravure

The gagea commutate is a bulbous plant of the lily family. There are 11 species of the genus gagea that grow all over Israel.

Gagea commutate is a common plant. It grows in the fields and in between rocks on the mountains. It can be found in the coastal area, upper and lower Galilee, Mt. Carmel, Mt. Gilboa, Beit Shean Valley, Judea Mountains, northern Negev and Transjordan.

Like the rest of the lily family the flower is not divided into calyx and corolla but it has a single perianth. The petals are yellow, narrow and each one has a thin green stripe on their lower side. The plant's leaves are long and thin.

The bulb is annual and filled each year by a substance supplied by the leaves. The bulb in this species creates small bulblets and each one of them grows into a new plant.

The leaves dry at the end of the winter and new leaves sprout with the first rains. The plant flowers in February-March.

Azaria Alon

top top

Gagea Commutate