Prunus spinosa, called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa. It is also locally naturalized in New Zealand, Tasmania and eastern North America.
The Celastraceae, are a family of 96 genera and 1,350 species of herbs, vines, shrubs and small trees, belonging to the order Celastrales. The great majority of the genera are tropical, with only Celastrus, Euonymus and Maytenus widespread in temperate climates, and Parnassia (bog-stars) found in alpine and arctic climates.
Grewia villosa is a shrub, often scrambling and hardly exceeding 4 m in height. Leaves are fairly large, serrated and heart-shaped. It grows naturally, mainly in dry habitats. It is common in most of the semi-arid parts of Eastern Africa but may now be rare in parts of its natural distribution. Seen in Ein Gedi oasis in Israel, common in South Africa. Its ripe copper-coloured fruits are eaten in East Africa.
Maytenus boaria (mayten) is an evergreen tree of the family Celastraceae, native from South America, up to 20 m (66 ft), 80 cm (31 in) diameter, straight trunk. It occurs naturally approximately from 30 to 50ºS: Chile and Argentina.
Commiphora gileadensis, the Arabian balsam tree, is a shrub species in the genus Commiphora growing in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, southern Oman, Sudan and in southeast Egypt where it may have been introduced. Other common names for the plant include balm of Gilead and Mecca myrrh, but this is due to historical confusion between several plants and the historically important expensive perfumes and drugs obtained from them.
Boswellia sacra is a tree in the Burseraceae family. It is the primary tree in the genus Boswellia from which frankincense, a resinous dried sap, is harvested. It is native to the Arabian Peninsula, and horn of Africa (Somalia).
Blepharis dhofarensis is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae. It is a shrub that grows to around 5m tall and is found in Oman and Yemen. Blepharis dhofarensis grows on wet escarpment woodlands and it prefers dense thickets on steep slopes. It is threatened by habitat loss. Recent molecular work has placed it in the genus Acanthus instead of Blepharis.
Gymnosporia is an Old World genus of plants, that comprise suffrutices, shrubs and trees. It was formerly considered congeneric with Maytenus, but more recent investigations separated it based on the presence of achyblasts and spines, alternate leaves or fascicles of leaves, an inflorescence that forms a dichasium, mostly unisexual flowers, and fruit forming a dehiscent capsule, with an aril on the seed. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.
Khaya senegalensis is a species of tree in the Meliaceae family that is native to Africa. Common names include African mahogany, dry zone mahogany, Gambia mahogany, khaya wood, Senegal mahogany, cailcedrat, acajou, djalla, and bois rouge.
Maytenus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Australasia, the Indian Ocean and Africa. They grow in a very wide variety of climates, from tropical to subpolar. In 2017, a taxonomic review moved 123 species of Maytenus to a new genus, called Monteverdia.
Punica protopunica, commonly known as the pomegranate tree or Socotran pomegranate, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lythraceae. It is endemic to the island of Socotra (Yemen). Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.
The Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert, also known as the Southwestern Arabian coastal xeric scrub, is desert ecoregion on the southern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, which experiences thick fogs where visibility may be reduced to 10 metres (33 ft). It is classed as an Afrotropical fog desert
Commiphora habessinica, sometimes known as Abyssinian myrrh or the Yemen myrrh, is a plant native to northeast Africa and the Arabian peninsula, including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, Oman and Yemen. It was first described by Otto Karl Berg in 1862 as Balsamodendrum habessinicum from northeast Africa. It was then transferred to the genus Commiphora by Adolf Engler in 1883, but given the name Commiphora abyssinica, an orthographical variant. It can be recognised by its simple, serrate leaves and by the pseudo aril, covering the seed, which has four almost linear arm-like lobes.
Lycium shawii, desert thorn or Arabian boxthorn is a species of thorny shrub adapted to desert environments, and can be found throughout the Arabian peninsula, and some places in Africa. The thin leaved, rigid bush grows up to 3 metres high, with a lot of branches and alternating spines that vary in size, and grow along the branches and on their tips. The leaves narrow towards their base. It produces small whitish-pink or purple flowers from September until April, and red pea-sized seedy berries that are edible. Habitats include gravel plains and foothills up to 4,000 ft (1,200 m), as well as wadis. Plants often growing nearby include Acacia tortilis and Prosopis cineraria.
Balanites rotundifolia, known in Swahili as Mbamba ngoma is a spiny bush or small tree from eastern Africa and southern Arabia. It is a member of the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae.
Dracaena serrulata also called the Arabian or Yemen Dragon Tree is a distinctive tree reaching around 5m tall with a single trunk. It is found in the dry escarpment mountains of southwestern Arabia from Oman, South Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Dyerophytum socotranum is a small shrub growing up to 2m tall, rather glaucous and covered in white mealy powder. It has yellow flowers.
Senna holosericea is a perennial herb with yellow flowers that is native to the Arabian peninsula, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Socotra, Somalia and Sudan.
The Southwestern Arabian foothills savanna, also known as the Southwestern Arabian Escarpment shrublands and woodlands, is a desert and xeric shrubland ecoregion of the southern Arabian Peninsula, covering portions of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman.
The South Arabian fog woodlands, shrublands, and dune is an ecoregion in Oman and Yemen. The fog woodlands lie on mountainsides which slope southeastwards towards the Arabian Sea. The mountains intercept moisture-bearing winds from the Arabian Sea, creating orographic precipitation and frequent fogs that sustain unique woodlands and shrublands in a desert region.
