Vegetation
There are large areas of samphires (Halosarcia spp.) in broad margins across the lake bed and on islands. Samphires are succulent, perennial erect or spreading shrubs to one metre tall, often growing in waterlogged and saline areas. They belong on the Chenopod family so are related to saltbushes and bluebushes. Stems and branches are green to reddish-purple, and made up of numerous articulated segments. They do not have obvious leaves; flowers are minute and grow in rows at the base of the fruiting segments.
Only young plants may be palatable to animals as they accumulate salt over time. They also act as sediment and nutrient traps and stabilise the lake edge. While they are capable of withstanding harsh climatic conditions, they are easily destroyed by physical trampling. Wherever possible humans should endeavour not to create new tracks with their vehicles or from other activities.
Other flora species found in the Lake Galilee area include cane grass Eragrostis australasica which is extensive in the northern half, belalie Acacia stenophyllla forms tall open shrubland or low woodland in parts of the northern half and in south-eastern bays; the weed Parkinsonia occurs extensively together with Acacia stenophyllla in dense thickets in the south-east inlets; Sesbania thickets occur in the northern lake bed and on southern islands, dense marshes of ribbed spike-rush Eleocharis plana with aquatics such as Monochoria Monochoria cyanea and nardoo Marsilea sp. under shrubs in some south-eastern inlets and creeks. Some of the lake bed is bare.
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Famous quotes containing the word vegetation:
“We love to see any redness in the vegetation of the temperate zone. It is the color of colors. This plant speaks to our blood.... What a perfect maturity it arrives at! It is the emblem of a successful life concluded by a death not premature, which is an ornament to Nature. What if we were to mature as perfectly, root and branch, glowing in the midst of our decay, like the poke!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the ground was partially bare of snow, and a few warm days had dried its surface somewhat, it was pleasant to compare the first tender signs of the infant year just peeping forth with the stately beauty of the withered vegetation which had withstood the winter ... decent weeds, at least, which widowed Nature wears.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I would not have every man nor every part of a man cultivated, any more than I would have every acre of earth cultivated: part will be tillage, but the greater part will be meadow and forest, not only serving an immediate use, but preparing a mould against a distant future, by the annual decay of the vegetation which it supports.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)