The grey mangrove (Avicennia marina) – found here on the barrier beach of Al Thakhira Nature Reserve in northern Qatar – is the only species of mangrove endemic to the country. Outside this mangrove area, the Qatari peninsula is home to sparse and rare vegetation typical of its desert climate. Nevertheless, there are some three hundred species of wild plants, including trees – like the wild jujube or “sidr” (Ziziphus nummularia) and the Arabian gum tree (Acacia arabica) –, halophytic plants such as the dwarf shrub Tetraena qatarensis (Zygophyllum qatarense) and the Arabian box tree (Lycium shawii), as well as an endemic tree species, the acacia tortilis (Vachellia tortilis), locally called “samr”.