The unique ecosystem supports some rare and wonderful specimens. By Rob Arnhem
Any first-time visitor to Dhofar between June and September would be open-mouthe in wonder, and justifiably so. This is not the Arabia of the popular imagination, of deserts spotted with the odd palm-fringed oasis. It’s much more like East Africa – and millions of years ago, it was part of Africa. When the southwesterly monsoon winds blow in from Africa, the climate transforms the valleys and veils the coastal plain and southern slopes of the mountains in mist for up to three months. Fully 75 per cent of Oman’s 1,044 known plant species are found in Dhofar, largely because of the annual
khareef. From the cultivated gardens of coconut, banana and papaya trees on the Salalah plain, the land sweeps upwards to the jebel. Stretching from west to east, the southern mountain range can be divided into three: Jebel Qamar, Jebel Qara and Jebel Samhan. The chain retreats further inland as it moves east, and thus gets progressively drier as it moves out of the range of the moisture-laden monsoon. At its western extremes, in contrast, cliffs plunge sheer into the sea, and every valley is thickly wooded. Behind the mountains’ southern slopes, however, less rain falls and it gets more arid inland towards the Nejd. These dry valleys, still in reach of some of the cool winds blowing inland, are the mythical land of the fragrant resin-bearing tree Boswellia sacra. Here grows frankincense, once the most precious natural commodity of the ancient world.
Several diverse habitats are thus formed between the sea and the desert, influenced by the lie of the land, the height of the limestone mountains and the amount of rain that falls. Along with African and Asian trees and plants are butterflies, birds and mammals more commonly found in Africa.
You don’t need to be a botanist to appreciate some of the special and characteristic trees and shrubs of Dhofar. Four easily recognisable trees known for their aromatic resins are the frankincense tree, the related myrrh and Balm-of-Gilead, both members of the Commiphora family, and the Dragon tree, Dracaena serrulata, whose strange form is integral to the moonscape of Jebel Samhan. All of these resinous trees have been exploited from ancient
times. Frankincense was used in rituals, in purificatory rites of passage such as birth and death, and as a panacea for almost every conceivable medicinal ailment. Myrrh produces a deep red gum, more bitter than the clear, blue-white or pale yellow tears of frankincense, and this is how its got its name – murr means bitter in Arabic. The word luban for frankincense refers to its whiteness or milkiness; ‘frank’ signifies ‘true’ or ‘pure’.
The pea family, or Leguminosae, is a huge one. Its most spectacular member in Oman is the creamy-flowered Delonix elata. Its seed pods were an important protein-rich source of food for the local Jeballi people and their livestock. Another showy plant is Ruttya
fruticosa, whose orange blooms have black centres and attract bees in numbers. Perhaps the most beautiful of the plants of Dhofar is the so-called Desert Rose. From a grotesquely swollen stem deeply buried in rocky ground sprout spindly branches bearing clusters of shocking-pink flowers. Because it was first described from Aden in Yemen, it’s called the ‘fat one of Aden’ in scientific parlance – Adenium obesum. Like the oleander, the plant is toxic and its milky latex is used as an arrow poison in Africa. In Dhofar, the Jeballi use its extract to reduce swellings and joint pain. Another colourful
flowering plant is the yellow Morning Glory, Ipomoea obscura, which scrambles over the mountain woodlands during the khareef. People ground the seeds as a cleaning agent before soap was available.
A common tree throughout Oman is Zizyphus spina-christi. The twigs bear paired thorns, one straight, the other curved, which although small are tenacious and hook on to any unsuspecting passerby. The small brown berries are refreshingly tart and contain Vitamin C, and are used to purify the blood and to cleanse the system. Flowering from September to November, its blossoms smell strangely unpleasant, but they are a great source of food for honeybees and
the tree feeds a whole range of animals. The widespread drought-resistant Acacia family also bears thorns, long, sharp and white for the most part, but this armour doesn’t deter hungry camels or those ever-nibbling climbing goats. The specific names A. senegal and A. nilotica point to a wider African range, and their fluffy pompom blossoms, usually yellow or white, mature into flattened pods containing seeds used to make traditional herbal cures for diabetes, toothache and coughs. The bark is rich in tannin and imparts a deep, red-brown colour to leather. Unlike many of the trees, these do not lose their leaves seasonally and as a result are browsed all year round.
Wild fig trees also provide edible fruit and welcome shade, and the milky sap is used as a folk cure for warts and as a poultice for bruises. Figs have powerful root systems that can even split rock. Euphorbia smithii is another common tree which exudes a milky sap, like all the members of the Euphorbiaceae family. Sterculia africana is the African star chestnut, a deciduous tree with inedible fruit that bursts open in a star-shaped pod. But beware of stroking
the soft furry lining of this attractive object – the tiny hairs cause intense irritation.
Another useful tree is the leguminous tamarind. Although it’s called Tamarindus indica, it in fact is an African species which has become naturalised. As a further complication, the origin of its name is actually Arabic – literally from tamr hindi, meaning ‘Indian date.’ The seeds in the distinctive segmented pod are embedded in a refreshing sour pulp, imparting a good flavour particularly to fish dishes and making a cool drink. Another confusing tree name is Olea europaea, the European olive. It’s actually found all over the Mediterranean, down to Southern Africa and across the wetter Dhofar mountains, with an ancient relict population in the northern Oman mountains. Its vast distribution is proof of it being more
widespread before continental drift and climatic change. The wild fruits are only just edible, but the hard wood is beautiful and used to carve walking sticks. It’s also very nutritious fodder for browsers.
The last is a real anomaly. It occurs in only one place: Wadi Hanna, in Jebel Qara. Here a grove of some 100 Adansonia digitata or Baobab trees raise their weird, bloated trunks to the sky. It’s a fascinating species, found only in Africa, Madagascar, a few in Sri Lanka, Australia and this one locality in Oman. At night, the huge cream flowers release a powerful but not-that-pleasant scent to attract their pollinators: bats and moths. The hard, greenish velvety seed pods which mature later when the trees have lost their leaves contain an early source of cream-of-tartar. Each hard seed inside is covered with a tart refreshing pulp. The wood is pulpy and fibrous, but, unusually for softwood trees, can reach their millennium; tantalisingly, those in Oman have not been dated.
As beautiful and diverse as these mountains are, unless we ensure adequate control and conservation, the natural treasure of Dhofar’s ecosystem is threatened. Making access easier by building new roads and over-exploitation by man and beast are already
having an adverse effect in certain areas. A multi-pronged strategy should include local, national and international input to ensure the preservation of this unique natural heritage.
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