Shafallah

Conservation status:

Native

Description:

Growth form: Shrub. Flowering. Mar. Status: Native. Common. Also recorded: Bahrain, E Saudi Arabia, UAE. Habitat & distribution: Occasional in stony and rocky areas and compact silty soils in depressions and by roads; mainly in NE Qatar. Uses: Buds are cooked and pickled and used as flavouring in cooking (El Amin). The leaves of the plant are used for treating ear-ache, coughs, expelling stomach worms and for diabetes. (Ghazanfar). Rizk & El-Ghazaly also list numerous other medicinal uses. Notes: There are two widespread varieties in Arabia: var. spinosa (C. aegyptiaca Lam., C.s. var. aegyptia) and var. mucronifolia (Boiss.) Hedge & Lamond. For Qatar earlier authors recorded var. spinosa (the form often seen by roadsides), but Miller & Cope also list var. mucronifolia (of rocky areas).