Aaron wrote in message . ..
Years ago I drove across the Great Salt Lake Dessert flats on I 80, I
was surprised to noticeda very thin line of wispy very green grass
about 15-20 inches tall that grew along the right hand shoulder of the
road where the plants could receive water vapor and carbon dioxide
directly from the exhausts of the passing cars. Talk about hot, dry,
sandy, salty, places.

On 18 Sep 2003 13:10:58 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:

Is it a barren salt pool or does it enjoy a unique flora which is salt -
resistant?

There are no plants in or right next to the Dead Sea. Israel does have some
salt resistant plants, but they grow elsewhere, either near brackish
underground water or on the Mediterranean coast. Find out why Abraham planted a
tamarisk in Beersheba. Read Tree and Shrub in our Biblical Heritage, by Nogah
Hareuveni.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)



I know that there is no higher plant living in the dead sea, it is too
salty for any plant to keep alive in the dead sea. to think that every
plant cell must keep a certain concentration of salts in them, but the
concentration is much less salty than that of dead sea. If any plant
is put into that high salty water, the cell will try to keep its
internal concentation equal to the outside, it will lost all of its
water, but even this it can not achieve that, it will die because of
lost of its water.
But there are many bacterias in the dead sea because of their
different structure to resist the saline. they have very tought cell
walls,and other mechanism to keep away of losting is water.Even some
bacterias can use the high
salt concentration to generate the energy they need to keep alive.
they can use the difference of the transmemebrane salt concentration
to generate the transmemebrane electrical potential-which is usually
used to motivate the ATP synthesis.
Also we can think that the plants on the shore of the dead sea can
live not on the water directly from the dead sea,but from other
source. such the undergroud water,which can come from the rain. also
come from the dead sea itself-we know that water from far away can go
throught the ground,which can remove some of its salt,until the water
get to the plant root, it will be fresh water!
So think that is not strange.