Whilst birding the Haradh area of
Saudi Arabia I came across the below plant. As mentioned previously, due to my
general inability to identify plants I sent the below photos to Irene Linning
who is a plant expert who used to live in Dhahran, and thankfully is kind
enough to help me with plant identifications. She responded saying the pant is Tribulus pentandrus and has the Arabic
name Shersir. There is a slight possibility that it is Tribulus terrestris given the locality, but its leaves tend not to
have hairs on the upper side and this one clearly does. So almost certain that
it is T. pentrandrus. It is a
perennial with stems branching from the base, prostate or spreading up to 40
centimetre high and covered with shOrt white hairs. The leaves are paired with
8-14 leaflets. The flowers are solitary, yellow and on a stalk up to 0.5
centimetres high and it flowers throughout the year. It is a common and
widespread plant in sand, sand plains and valleys.
