ALHAGI SHRUB
Alhagi are more commonly known as Cammel Thorns or Manna Trees.
There are three - five species.
The Alhagi species have proportionally the deepest roots of any plants - a 1 m high shrub may have a main root more than 15 m long; due to their deep root system Alhagi species are drought-avoiding plants that utilize ground water.
SEDGE
Sedges are/have:
- Their stems are 3-sided and solid (with some exceptions).
- Sheaths on their leaves are closed, spirally arranged in 3-ranked, which means that the leaves come out of three different sides of the stem.
- They have scale like flowers
SAXUUL TREE
When fully grown the saxuul can range from 6 - 12 ft in height with crooked and knotted trunk, and branches. It has thick, dry, grey sponge like bark, unlike when they are young and have vivid green bark.
Like many desert plants it has extensive branches that reach for water, and has more success with this in sandy and heavily textured soils.
It also produces small yellow flowers when fully grown, and its leaves are small and barely be seen on their own (like hair).
TAMARISKS
Tamarisks are evergreen shrubs or trees that grow from 1 m to 18 m in height and forming dense thickets.
Tamarisks are characterized by slender branches and grey-green foliage. The bark of young branches is smooth and reddish-brown. As the plants age, the bark becomes bluish-purple, ridged and furrowed.
The leaves resemble scales, are 1–2 mm long, and overlap each other along the stem. They are often encrusted with salt.
They have pink or white flowers that appear in large clusters on 5–10 cm long spikes on the tips of the branch from March to September, though some species tend to flower during the winter.