Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.) Bunge
T. mannifera (Ehrenb.) Bunge, T. gallica var. mannifera Ehrenb., T. arabica Bunge.
Eng.: Manna-tamarisk tree. Spa.: Taray del maná. Fre.: Tamaris. Ara.: Tarfa, tarfaya, fersig, afersi.
Small tree or shrub, evergreen, hermaphrodite, up to 9 m in height, irregular in shape, with sparse foliage. Trunk ± erect, with brown or reddish-brown fissured bark, at least in older specimens. Branchlets of the current year papillose. Leaves (2-3 mm) alternate, sessile, squamiform, triangular-lanceolate, with an acute tip, from deeply auriculate to amplexicaul at their basal half. Leaf blade with small salt secreting glands, ± visible depending on the salinity of the habitat. Racemes 10-50 × 4-5 mm, densely covered in flowers. Flowers pentamerous, with 5 petals, 1.5-2 mm, elliptic to ovate-triangular. Staminal disk hololophic. Fruit an ovoid capsule.
Flowering:
August to May and rarely July.
Fruiting:
October to April.
Habitat:
Salt marshes and deserts, wadis, oases, fields, coastal areas of the Red Sea.
Distribution:
Saharo-Arabian and SE Mediterranean distribution. In Africa, from Libya and Egypt to Somalia. In Asia, in Palestine, Israel, Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula. In Egypt it is a common species in saline and sandy areas, both inland and littoral areas.
Observations:
The bite of a cochineal (Coccus maniparus) produces in this tree an exudate rich in sugars that has been refered by some authors as the biblical manna.
Conservation status:
A common and widely distributed species; it is not considered threatened. Currently, it is listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Least Concern (LC) at a global level (Akhani, 2014). In the updated red list of Egypt (Shaltout & Bedair, 2023) it has been considered as Least Concern (LC).
