| Tamarix nilotica | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Tamaricaceae |
| Genus: | Tamarix |
| Species: | T. nilotica |
| Binomial name | |
| Tamarix nilotica | |
Tamarix nilotica, the Nile tamarisk is a species of shrub or small tree in the tamarisk family. It is found in arid parts of North Africa and the Middle East, particularly areas with high salinity. It forms part of the dune stabilisation process.
Tamarix nilotica is a much-branched shrub or small tree up to 10 m (33 ft) high. The twigs are slender and are half-clasped by the tiny, narrow, lanceolate leaves, up to 3 mm (0.1 in) long. The inflorescence is a raceme 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) long, with many small white or pink flowers, each with a short pedicel, five sepals, five petals and five stamens. [2]
Tamarix nilotica is found in Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. In the Nile Valley in Egypt, this tree grows beside the river and the irrigation channels. It can form dense thickets in suitable locations. [1] It is also found as part of a salt-tolerant community in saline depressions in the Western Desert, [3] and on coastal dunes where its deep roots are able to extract saline water from the subsoil; it has salt-excreting glands to rid itself of the excess salts that would otherwise accumulate. [4]
At the Moghra oasis, in the Qattara Depression, there is a brackish lake and a Phragmites swamp, and T. nilotica dominates a zone on the edge of the oasis where the vegetation ceases and the surrounding arid plains start. Here it grows in association with Alhagi maurorum , Nitraria retusa Zygophyllum album and Cressa cretica . [3]
Tamarix nilotica can help stabilise sand and may form nabkhas as part of the dune forming process. Wind blown sand comes to rest at the foot of the shrub and accumulates, gradually creating a hummock; the shrub's extensive root system continues to extract moisture from the underlying saline substrate and grows at a faster rate than the mound rises. [5]
In Egypt, T. nilotica has been used in traditional medicine as an antiseptic, an antipyretic, for alleviating headaches and reducing inflammation. It also has a reputation as an aphrodisiac. [1]
The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin and Range ecoregion defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and United States Geological Survey. It is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. The desert spans a large part of the state of Nevada, and extends into western Utah, eastern California, and Idaho. The desert is one of the four biologically defined deserts in North America, in addition to the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts.
The genus Tamarix is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tamaris River in Hispania Tarraconensis (Spain).
The Eastern Desert is the part of the Sahara desert that is located east of the Nile river. It spans 223,000 square kilometres (86,000 sq mi) of North-Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Nile river to the west and the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez to the east. It extends through Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia. The Eastern Desert is also known as the Red Sea Hills. The Desert consists of a mountain range which runs parallel to the coast, wide sedimentary plateaus extending from either side of the mountains and the Red Sea coast. The rainfall, climate, vegetation and animal life sustained in the desert varies between these different regions.The Desert has been a mining site for building materials, and precious and semi-precious metals throughout history. It has historically contained many trade routes leading to and from the Red Sea, including the Suez Canal.
Juniperus phoenicea, the Phoenicean juniper or Arâr, is a juniper found throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal east to Italy, Turkey and Egypt, south on the mountains of Lebanon, the Palestine region and in western Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea, and also on Madeira and the Canary Islands. It mostly grows at low altitudes close to the coast, but reaches 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) altitude in the south of its range in the Atlas Mountains. It is the vegetable symbol of the island of El Hierro.
The wildlife of Egypt is composed of the flora and fauna of this country in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia, and is substantial and varied. Apart from the fertile Nile Valley, which bisects the country from south to north, the majority of Egypt's landscape is desert, with a few scattered oases. It has long coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. Each geographic region has a diversity of plants and animals each adapted to its own particular habitat.
Graderia is a genus of plants in the family Orobanchaceae, which is native to Africa and Socotra. It belongs to the tribe Buchnereae. It is a hemiparasitic taxon.
The Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion of North Africa. It occupies interior plateaus and mountain ranges of the Maghreb region, lying generally between the coastal Mediterranean woodlands and forests to the north and the Sahara to the south.
Tamarix aphylla is the largest known species of Tamarix, with height up to 18 metres (60 ft). The species has a variety of common names, including Athel tamarisk, Athel tree, and Athel pine. It is an evergreen tree, native across North, East, and Central Africa, through the Middle East, and into parts of Western and Southern Asia.
Nitraria retusa is a salt-tolerant and drought-resistant shrub in the family Nitrariaceae. It can grow to heights of 2.5 metres, although it seldom exceeds more than 1 m in height. It produces small white/green coloured flowers and small edible red fruit. The plant is native to desert areas of northern Africa, where it grows in primary succession on barren sand dunes, and in areas with high salinities such as salt marshes.
Tamarix ramosissima, commonly known as saltcedarsalt cedar, or tamarisk, is a deciduous arching shrub with reddish stems, feathery, pale green foliage, and characteristic small pink flowers.
Diorhabda sublineata is a leaf beetle known as the subtropical tamarisk beetle (STB). The species was first described by Hippolyte Lucas in 1849. It feeds on tamarisk trees from Portugal, Spain and France to Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Iraq. It is used in North America as a biological pest control agent against saltcedar or tamarisk, an invasive species in arid and semi-arid ecosystems.
Tamarix chinensis is a species of tamarisk known by the common names five-stamen tamarisk and Chinese tamarisk or saltcedar. It is native to China and Korea, and it is known in many other parts of the world as an introduced species and sometimes an invasive noxious weed. It easily inhabits moist habitat with saline soils. It may grow as a tree with a single trunk or as a shrub with several spreading erect branches reaching 6 metres or more in maximum height. It has been known to reach 12 metres. It has reddish, brown, or black bark. The small, multibranched twigs are covered in small lance-shaped, scale-like leaves which are no more than about 3 mm long. The inflorescence is a dense raceme of flowers a few cm long. Each fragrant flower has five petals which are usually pink but range from white to red.
Cape Flats Dune Strandveld is an endangered vegetation type. This is a unique type of Cape Strandveld that is endemic to the coastal areas around Cape Town, including the Cape Flats.
A nabkha, nebkha or nebka is a type of sand dune. Other terms used include coppice dune and dune hummock or hummocky dune, but these more accurately refer to similar, but different, sand dune types. Authors have also used the terms phytogenic hillock, bush-mound, shrub-coppice dune, knob dune, dune tumulus, rebdou, nebbe, and takouit.
Tephrosia apollinea is a legume species, native to southwest Asia and northeast Africa.
Tetraena alba is a species of plant in the family Zygophyllaceae which is found in arid regions of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is a salt tolerant plant and dominates many of the plant communities in which it grows.
The Moghra Oasis is an uninhabited oasis in the northeastern part of the Qattara Depression in the Western Desert of Egypt. It has a 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) lake containing brackish water, salt marshes and a swamp with reeds.
Tamarix dioica is a twiggy shrub or small tree that grows in saline habitats in western Asia. Common names include ghaz and khagal in Pakistan, lal jhau, urusia, ban jhau, nona-gach, urichiya in Bangladesh and nona jhau in the Sunderbans.
Tamarix usneoides, locally known as wild tamarisk, is a twiggy shrub or small evergreen tree that grows in saline habitats, semi-deserts and karroid areas in southern Africa. It has a short trunk, thin branches usually growing from ground level, tiny scale-like leaves and spikes of creamy-white flowers.
Euryops arabicus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae that grows in the form of a bush. It is found on the Arabian Peninsula, Socotra, Somalia and Djibouti. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
