Ghaf tree – prosopis cineraria – is a flowering evergreen (despite desert environment) tree in the Fabaceae family, native to parts of Western Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.
Ghaf tree is the national tree of the United Arab Emirates (since 2008), the state tree (known as Khejri) of Rajasthan and as Jammi in Telangana in India. In Bahrain a 400-years-old “tree of Life” is growning in the middle of a desert.
In UAE ghaf trees are playing an important role: to counteract desertification, in improving soil fertility, as fuel source, shelter (bird nests, shelter for insect, wood as construction material), medicine and food (seeds, leaves, seedpods, honey) for humans and animals.
Death will not visit a man, even at the time of a famine, if he has a Ghaf, a goat and a camel, since the three together will sustain a man even under the most trying conditions. ∼ Unknown
In the photos: ghaf trees in Ras al Khaimah in United Arab Emirates. After the rainfall (or at the farms with irrigation system) the ghaf forest area turns incredibly green.
Aug 21, 2020
Ξ Ghaf tree at Connect With Nature UAE webpage
∇ Location: view on Google Maps
