Tamarix nilotica, the Nile tamarisk is a species of shrub or small tree in the Tamaricaceae. 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.
Description
Tamarix nilotica is a much-branched shrub or small tree up to high. The twigs are slender and are half-clasped by the tiny, narrow, lanceolate leaves, up to long. The inflorescence is a
raceme long, with many small white or pink flowers, each with a short pedicel, five sepals, five petals and five stamens.
Distribution and habitat
Tamarix nilotica is found in
Crete,
Lebanon,
Palestine,
Israel,
Jordan,
Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States,
Yemen,
Egypt,
Sudan,
Eritrea,
Ethiopia,
Somalia, and
Kenya. In the
Nile in Egypt, this tree grows beside the river and the irrigation channels. It can form dense thickets in suitable locations.
It is also found as part of a salt-tolerant community in saline depressions in the Western Desert,
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.
Ecology
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.
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Uses
Tamarix nilotica can help stabilise sand and may form 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.
In Egypt, T. nilotica has been used in traditional medicine as an antiseptic, an antipyretic, for alleviating and reducing inflammation. It also has a reputation as an aphrodisiac.
