Scientific Name
Haloxylon salicornicum
Arabic Name
Rimth
Tagged As
N/A
Endangered Status
Botanical Description
Large perennial woody plants, much branched, erect, almost leafless shrub up to 150cm high, usually with accumulated sands around the base. Branches thick and jointed, erect or ascending, bluish-green and fleshy when young, gradually hardening to dirty grey in colour and drying yellow.
Leaves
Opposite reduced to rudimentary with woolly axis. In older plants often enlarged by gall producing insects and turning pink or reddish.
Flowers
Inflorescences spikes minute 3-6cm long spikes from leaf nodes of terminal or lateral branches. Flowers yellow.
Fruits
Recognisable by fruit’s wings, which clothe plants with conspicuous pink, brown, or white enlarged papery wing.
Flowering & Fruiting
Flowering from September to December. Flowering and fruiting simultaneous.
Habitat
Stable sand, especially in the central areas and on alluvial gravel plains of stony desert.
Distribution
Very common and widespread in UAE, with populations in Dubai, Madam, Hatta, Abu-Dhabi, Al-Ain and Liwa.
Globally
The plant is native to: Egypt; Libya; Tunisia; Algeria; Palestine; Jordan; Syria; Lebanon; Iraq; Kuwait; Central and Eastern of the Arabian Peninsula; Iran; Afghanistan; Pakistan; and India.
Uses
Wings sought after by ants; shrub browsed by camels. Stems boiled in water used to treat low blood sugar; plant was also used to make soap; roots used as firewood. The ash of the plant is taken with water against internal ulcers.