Collecting plant seeds and local
knowledge written by NICOLA SHIPWAY
photographed by SYED FASIUDDIN
“Indigo is called neel, like the Nile River, which is also blue”
The goat’s milk comes warm and creamy and sprinkled with something
familiar but hard to place. “It’s zaatar, which has medicinal
properties,” explains Dr Ali al Lawati. “In Italy they add it
to pizza.” The penny drops: our host, Ali bin Khalifah al Jamoodi,
has added oregano to the milk, which is served alongside kahwa,
dates, bananas and grapes in an extravagant gesture of hospitality
in a courtyard shaded by a wild fig, in the foothills outside
Nizwa.
Ali al Jamoodi’s family has lived in this remote village for
many generations. The owner of the largest flock of goats in
the area, he has an intimate knowledge of the local terrain
and the grasses and shrubs that occupy it, which is why we are
here, drinking milk and making inquiries. Our field trip has
two objectives: to collect data and seeds to bolster a seed
bank, and to obtain indigenous knowledge about plants used by
the local people for medicinal purposes.
Protecting and conserving Seeds for the future
The field trip has been organised by the Plant Production Research
Centre, part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries that
is based in Barka. Dr Ali al Lawati is assistant director of
the centre, which has four research laboratories devoted to
fruit, vegetables, field crops, and seeds and plant genetic
resources. The last includes a seed bank, which is a vital resource
for propagation and future breeding programmes. Dr Ali and his
team have a particular interest in protecting and conserving
plants used for fodder or those with medicinal properties –
plants such as metik, which grows in the interior, near Nizwa,
and is used for the treatment of snakebite.
Sitting under the wild fig tree in the foothills outside Nizwa,
Dr Saleem K Nadaf reveals that the team has found four species
of fig in Dhofar. Both Dr Ali and Dr Saleem, and their colleagues,
Safa’a al Farsi and Saleh al Hinai, are immensely well informed
about Oman’s flora, explaining that they have discovered fruiting
cacti in Jebel Akhdar, and that women in mountain villages once
cultivated small plantings of crocuses in order to harvest saffron.
The information gleaned directly from local people is particularly
intriguing: Rhus aucheri or qataf for instance, which is in
the same family as the mango and cashew, stimulates milk production
in goats and camels; while indigo, used in the past for soap
and as a dye, is today less abundant as families prefer to buy
pre-dyed, imported textiles. “Indigo is called neel, like the
Nile River, which is also blue,” adds Dr Ali.
Local knowledge Safeguarding age-old wisdom
All this knowledge has been acquired partly as a result of field
trips, which involve talking to local herders such as Ali al
Jamoodi. Sitting in his courtyard, the herder hands round a
sprig of something aromatic called ja’adah and reveals that
it is used to clean the stomach and break down fats. Its amber
oil is extracted using a distillation process similar to that
utilised in Jebel Akhdar for rosewater making.
Departing the home distillation plant – essentially a bucket
filled with plants and an oil-collecting container, covered
with a bowl of water and set over a fire – the scientists follow
Ali al Jamoodi into the plain that skirts the foothills. Passing
his pickup he gestures to the bought bundles of crops loaded
in the back, which are destined for his animals. “He’s talking
about the problem of desertification,” explains Safa’a. “These
days he has to buy crops from the market instead of taking his
goats to the mountains. It’s a recent problem.”
The rangelands beyond are strewn with rocks and shrubs, and
in the near distance a ribbon of russet grasses snakes across
the ground tracing the wadi’s path. Ali al Jamoodi locates his
two most valued plants: Acacia tortilis, called samar, and Ziziphus
spina-christi or sidr, both of which are important as fodder
and alluring to honey bees. The scientists survey the ground
and what is growing, identifying species such as Pteropyrum
scorpium or sidaf, which Saleh says was once eaten by local
people with small dried fish and lime. Seeds are labelled and
filed, GPS recordings noted down and information logged for
eventual inclusion in the ex situ database.
Grappling with the terrain A rich variety of flora
Exploring Oman’s flora is not without complication: the same
plant may have several common names and sundry uses, and may
behave differently depending on where it grows. Furthermore
the sultanate’s varied topography, which embraces deserts, mountains,
wadis and coastal rangelands, supports a rich biodiversity.
For Dr Ali and his team, charting the things that grow here,
with the aim of conserving them for the future, is a testing
but compelling task.
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