Whilst birding the Jubail area recently I
came across an Arta Calligonum comosum. Thius plant is a virtually
leafless perennial shrub up to 2.5m tall, stem much branched from thick woody
rootstock. Main stems dark and rough often with peeling bark, older branches
white with swollen nodes, less rough but angular and fragile and often
dropping. Twigs slender, dark green looks from a distance like long trailing
hairs. Leaves if
present are minute, 3-5mm long, falling off quickly. Flowers are many, five
white sepals with greenish central stripe, no petals, with bright red anthers,
on short stalks from leaf nodes, sometimes clustered. Flowers from December to
April. Fruit is showy, bristly
nut covered with rusty red or white furry hairs, becoming dirty yellow in
maturity. It prefers sand plains, dunes and roadsides where it is common and
widespread. This species is an excellent desert sand binder, cultivated and
used for windbreaks around desert plantations; used as firewood, as it burns
smokelessly; dried leaves and stems are chewed to treat toothache, young shoots
collected as salad greens or powdered to add to milk as a tonic or flavouring,
fruits are edible.
