Harm

Conservation status:

Native

Description:

Growth form: Shrub. Flowering. Mar–Apr. Status: Native. Very common. Endemic to the Arabian Peninsula. Also recorded: Bahrain, Kuwait, E Saudi Arabia, UAE. Habitat & distribution: Frequent to abundant, or dominant in gravel plains and saline sandy habitats, including sabkha edge and beaches. Uses: Not edible to humans and usually avoided by wild animals and livestock. Mandaville remarks that it provides ‘useful summer grazing, but considered unhealthy in excess’. Notes: All Zygophyllum species in Arabia have recently been transfered to the genus Tetraena (Beier et al. 2003). Mandaville notes that this is a rather variable species that was often attributed incorrectly to Zygophyllum coccineum L. It is possible that other Gulf and Saudi Arabian species may also occur inside the borders of Qatar.