Scienceאמוץ דפני

Amots Dafni

Amots Dafni is an Israeli botanist and poet, a professor emeritus at the University of Haifa known for his research on pollination and ethnobotany.

born 1944Research on pollination ecologyDeceptive pollination in orchidsEthnobotany of IsraelPoetry about nature

Born: 30 April 1944, Tel Aviv
Occupation: botanist, poet, researcher, writer

Amots Dafni was born in 1944 in Tel Aviv

Amots Dafni was born in Tel Aviv on April 30, 1944.

He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He completed his master's thesis in 1970 under Clara Chen, on the genus Gagea, and his doctorate in 1975 under Clara Chen and Moshe Negbi, on field mandrake. He then did postdoctoral work at the University of Liverpool in England in 1975 and 1976.

In 1977 he became a research fellow at the Institute of Evolution at the University of Haifa, where he worked until he retired in 2012. He became a full professor in 1997. His research focuses on the ecology and evolution of pollination, including deceptive pollination in orchids, and on ethnobotany, based on hundreds of interviews with people from different groups in Israel.

He also wrote popular books on plants, among them works on orchids in Israel and on sacred trees. In 2008 he began publishing poetry and has published 4 books of poems, in which nature plays a central part. After retiring he continues to do research.