The Desert Blooms : After the Rain in Qatar
It’s amazing, the difference a drop of rain can make. Almost overnight, it seems, the desert springs to life.
Millions of seeds have been lying dormant, waiting to be triggered into action, and the plants that soldier on all the year round: the gnarled, camel-chewed bushes of Desert Thorn [Lycium shawii] and the dusty, Zygophyllum qatarensis, with its salty-tasting fleshy lobes, found all over Qatar, have suddenly sprouted new growth. Heavy dewfall at night provided just enough moisture for them to survive the summers.
Even a couple of days' rain is enough to transform the landscape. Exploring an area near al Thakhira after last winter's rain, we found that land that had been parched and barren a month previously held a wide variety of vegetation. It was being enjoyed by a flock of fat, woolly-coated sheep which grazed along the slopes, watched over by their shepherd.
Even the wheel ruts criss-crossing the landscape were sufficient to hold a little moisture, and long lines of pale, silvery-green tasselled grasses waved gently in the breeze.
Text by Fran Gillespi, image by David Gillespi.
Read the full article: The Desert Blooms
will let you know if i come acroos
thank you for the tip RP
you get what you deserve.........
Some of the indigenous plants are full of anthrax spores that do affect our lungs. Believe it or not those plants are related to some of the African desert plants.
They might look cute to the eye, but they my prompt an allergy you don't want to deal with.
The Seven Words You Can Never Say On QL by George Carlin
unfortunately, the truffle season is over. Only when it rains between October till early December, you'll be able to hunt for truffles
lil more rain and its time to go truffle hunting.