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Zygophyllum qatarense Hadidi

Zygophyllaceae · Socotra, Gulf States +4

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

Photographs not checked iNaturalist and GBIF media were skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
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Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.5°C
Record low 12.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
42°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
95mm
1 month of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
26–49DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
93 mm of rain in the median year, under the rule's 120 mm, so no rainy season is read; the cooler six months are November to April. rain and temperature rules, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Zygophyllum qatarense, synonym Tetraena qatarensis, is a salt-tolerant dwarf shrub that grows in the Arabian Peninsula. It has small compact leaves that store water. The leaflets grow in pairs and the flowers have four or five petals.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Zygophyllum qatarense", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

Rain at the habitat is 93 mm in the median year (across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Under 120 mm the rain rule reads no rainy season, and the growing-season rule infers nothing from it. The temperature rule reads the cooler six months as November to April. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to October.

Rain

93 mm in the median year at the habitat. Wettest month February at 25 mm, driest months (2 at 0 mm); 7 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 69 mm to 129 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 95 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 93 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 49 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.5 °C, the absolute minimum 12.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 13.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 11.1 °C to 17.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 42.2 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 46 to 55% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +8 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Zygophyllum qatarense through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 42 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 13.2 °C; 93 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°20°30°40°50°41.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER12.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter010203040mm rainDLI 26–49RH 46–55%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 195 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C23 / 19–2525 / 21–2629 / 25–3034 / 29–3539 / 32–4141 / 33–4342 / 34–4342 / 34–4340 / 33–4136 / 31–3630 / 27–3125 / 22–26
Night °C13 / 11–1714 / 12–1817 / 15–2120 / 20–2425 / 24–2727 / 26–3029 / 27–3129 / 27–3126 / 24–2823 / 22–2619 / 17–2315 / 13–19
Rain mm13 / 6–2225 / 10–3124 / 13–338 / 5–111 / 0–30 / 0–31 / 0–41 / 0–30 / 0–11 / 0–33 / 1–1516 / 8–23
DLI28 / 26–3134 / 33–3640 / 38–4246 / 44–4749 / 48–5048 / 46–4946 / 42–4744 / 41–4641 / 40–4237 / 36–3831 / 29–3326 / 25–29
RH %55 / 53–5755 / 50–5852 / 47–5748 / 42–5646 / 38–5547 / 40–5648 / 41–5649 / 42–5852 / 43–6053 / 44–6053 / 49–5855 / 52–58
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 195 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (351 records in those cells; 6 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1313:4692 (24.325, 54.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 12.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 195 distinct grid cells holding 351 of the 358 in-range records (6 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1313:4692 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.50_54.375, lapse-corrected +8 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 16 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 9562766 (Tetraena hamiensis var. qatarensis (Hadidi) Alzahrani & Albokhari, 487 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeSocotra, Gulf States, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker25.022, 55.157 · in the densest population, 227 records (55% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 415 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 351 of them in the land cells it reads, of 358 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 108 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 550 km away. 10 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 57 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 9562766 (Tetraena hamiensis var. qatarensis (Hadidi) Alzahrani & Albokhari): Kew's file holds it as Tetraena hamiensis var. qatarensis (Hadidi) Alzahrani & Albokhari (synonym under Zygophyllum qatarense Hadidi); 487 records, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 415 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Not checked. iNaturalist and GBIF media were skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not a statement that none exist.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Convolvulus virgatus Convolvulus virgatus Convolvulaceae Photo: CC BY, Joey BomPulicaria glutinosa Pulicaria glutinosa Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, AntoninaCyperus conglomeratus Cyperus conglomeratus Cyperaceae Photo: CC BY, Karim HaddadEuphorbia larica Euphorbia larica Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Julien RenoultRhazya stricta Rhazya stricta Harmal Photo: CC BY, Krzysztof ZiarnekCaroxylon imbricatum Caroxylon imbricatum Amaranthaceae Photo: CC BY, Mehdi Chetibi

Other Zygophyllum 6 in the reference

Zygophyllum atriplicoides Zygophyllum atriplicoides Zygophyllaceae Photo: CC BY, Dr. Alexey Yakovlev Zygophyllum creticum Zygophyllaceae Zygophyllum fabago Zygophyllum fabago Syrian bean-caper Photo: CC BY, Наталья Пикалова Zygophyllum fontanesii Zygophyllaceae Zygophyllum molle Zygophyllaceae Zygophyllum simplex Zygophyllaceae

Names & registers

Also known as Tetraena qatarensis; Zygophyllum hamiense var. qatarense; Tetraena hamiensis var. qatarensis. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Zygophyllaceae
Described by
Hadidi
Native to
Socotra, Gulf States, Kuwait +3
Wild records
415 in range · 108 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Zygophyllum qatarense Hadidi (plant_name_id 2469698), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 487 records of GBIF's key 9562766, Tetraena hamiensis var. qatarensis (Hadidi) Alzahrani & Albokhari (Kew's file holds it as Tetraena hamiensis var. qatarensis (Hadidi) Alzahrani & Albokhari (synonym under Zygophyllum qatarense Hadidi)): the GBIF download; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.50_54.375, lapse-corrected +8 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 873673-1, POWO 873673-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 10 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…