Barwaq

Conservation status:

Native

Description:

Growth form: Annual herb. Flowering. Feb–Apr. Status: Native. Common. Also recorded: Bahrain, Kuwait, E Saudi Arabia, UAE. Habitat & distribution: Occasional to locally frequent in shallow, often somewhat compact, sand; particularly in sandy or gravelly depressions. Uses: Phillips quotes Dickson (1955) reporting that the seeds of the plant were used by the Bedu of Kuwait to make a kind of dried milk. ‘Gathered for use as a pot herb’ (Cornes & Cornes). The seeds have diuretic properties and are applied externally to ulcers and inflamed parts (Rizk & El- Ghazaly). Notes: A. fistulosus L. is best treated as a separate species; it has been reported from Egypt and northern Saudi Arabia (Boulos).