Salvadora persica L.
الأراك، الراك ، مسواك، ايهويك، شجرة السواك، أراك
For people
- Eaten by people
- Edible
- Toxic to people
- Not toxic
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Good fodder
- Toxic to livestock
- Not toxic
Edibility and safety notes
The small ripe fruits (red to pink-purple, juicy, with a sharp mustard-like taste) are eaten by people fresh or dried, and the young leaves and shoots are eaten raw in salads or cooked. Roots and twigs are chewed as tooth sticks (miswak). No hazards are recorded for normal food use, but the root bark is acrid and can blister the skin, and large medicinal doses of extracts were harmful in animal tests. Leaves and fruits are browsed by camels, sheep, goats and cattle and it is a valued drought fodder; the leaves are reported to act as a purgative in camels.
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Description
A hairless, pale green, evergreen large shrub or small tree, usually 1–3 m tall in Arabia (elsewhere up to 6–7 m), often with a crooked trunk and sometimes forming dense thickets on sand hummocks. Branches opposite, repeatedly branched, cylindrical, whitish and drooping. Leaves simple, opposite, somewhat fleshy to leathery, lanceolate to ovate-oblong, rarely almost round, entire, 2–6 cm long and 1.5–3 cm wide. Flowers very small (about 3 mm), four-parted, in loose axillary or terminal spike-like racemes. The fruit is a small, globose, fleshy, one-seeded berry-like drupe 4–8 mm across, red to pink-purple when ripe, juicy and pungent. Flowers from January to April.
Habitat
Hot desert oases, wadi banks and floodplains, coastal and riverine scrub, on sandy, alluvial, moist and sometimes saline soils; it tolerates salt and very low rainfall but prefers access to groundwater.
Distribution
Tropical and North Africa through the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East to India and Sri Lanka. In Oman it is recorded from Dhofar, the central coast, the Wahiba (Sharqiyah) Sands, Batinah and the interior.
Pastoral value
Good browse, especially for camels; the leaves and fruits are also eaten by sheep, goats and cattle, and it is valued as a drought-resistant fodder. The leaves are reported to have a purgative effect on camels.
Other uses
Roots and small branches (miswak) are traditionally used as tooth-cleaning sticks throughout Arabia and the wider Muslim world, and extracts are added to some toothpastes. The fruits are eaten fresh or dried or made into a drink, and the young leaves are eaten as salad. The seeds yield an oil used for soap and candles, and the wood is used for fuel and charcoal. Traditionally, various parts are used for mouth and gum complaints, sores and boils, bruises, joint pain and stings; these are traditional uses, not medical advice. Planted as a windbreak and for stabilising sand and reclaiming saline soil.
Sources
- الدليل الحقلي المصور للنباتات البرية في سلطنة عُمان (BOOK.pdf p.184)
- Useful Tropical Plants — Salvadora persica — tropical.theferns.info
- Department of Health Abu Dhabi — Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants of UAE: Salvadora persica — medicinalplants.doh.gov.ae
- Wikipedia — Salvadora persica — en.wikipedia.org
- Flora of Qatar — Salvadora persica — floraofqatar.com
- GBIF occurrences in Oman — Salvadora persica — api.gbif.org
- Feedipedia – Saltbush (Salvadora persica) — feedipedia.org