Umbrella thorn/Samar TreeQur’anic Botanic Garden
Samor (Umbrella Thorn Trees)
The Umbrella Thorn Tree –known in Arabic as Samor, Scientific Name:Vachellia tortilis (Forssk.) Galasso & Banfi– is one of the desert trees that is mentioned almost in any reference book on arid lands.
Samor (Umbrella Thorn Trees) Habitat
Is one of the desert trees in Arabian Peninsula and common in plains and mountains. Umbrella thorn trees are one of the most important components of the green cover in Qatar.
They grow in low, deep meadows/habitats, where soil depth can be up to more than a meter and have a diversity in the vegetative cover.
Al-aisQur’anic Botanic Garden
Al-ais
Al-ais is an Arabic word that describes swirling trees whose roots are overlap and intertwine with each other.
These trees have entangled stems and branches beyond identification, like the overlapping and entanglement of jujube
Al-hadalQur’anic Botanic Garden
Al-Hadal
Al-hadal is an Arabic word that refers to any plant that is entangled with umbrella thorn tree branches which are of a different species.
Several species of plants grow along umbrella thorns, and they often become entangled. For example, horsetail or alanda shrubs (Ephedra ciliata) grow so entangled with umbrella thorns and Arabian boxthorn (Lycium shawii) that it is difficult to distinguish them
Al-baramQur’anic Botanic Garden
Al-baram
Al-baram (an Arabic word which means ‘many flowers’, the singular is barama) is used to describe flowers of the umbrella thorn tree in classical Arabic. Umbrella thorn flowers can be in one cluster of several clusters.
Umbrella thorn seed pods (ḥubla in Arabic)Qur’anic Botanic Garden
Umbrella Thorn Seed Pods
Al-ḥubla is the fruit of the umbrella thorn tree. They are green beans, small and coiled.
It is called al-hubla (which means in Arabic ‘pregnant lady’), because they have swollen "bellies".
Umbrella thorn/Samar TreeQur’anic Botanic Garden
All photos taken by: Ahmed El-Gharib, Assistant Researcher, Quranic Botanic Garden member of Qatar Foundation.
All photos taken by: Ahmed El-Gharib, Assistant Researcher, Quranic Botanic Garden, member of Qatar Foundation.
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