BCSS - Forum

Taking an example from Ralph's recent photologue, I recently visited the Giza pyramid complex and found a few quite succulent plants (+ 1 grass...) that might be of some interest to the forum.

I am not so sure about the identity of a few, so all comments are welcome.

Apologies for the neck stretching exercise, I forgot to edit all the files and it's really not feasible to swap them all on a mobile phone.


For context, temperature and precipitation graphs for Giza, Egypt and London, please note very different scales!

1. Zygophyllum simplex (syn. Tetraena simplex)

I found only this single plant, which seems to be suggesting that it's not necessarily a native there, isn't it?

2. Aizoanthemopsis hispanica (syn. Aizoanthemum hispanicum)

This annual is... dead at the moment, but capsules were full of seeds, so it will survive until the next cycle.

3. Asparagus horridus(?), not convinced of ID because this one was much more compact than all other photographs I found, but that's as close as I can get

4. Alhagi graecorum, legume, Manna tree

5. (Honorary wheatgrass) Thinopyrum intermedium or Cynodon dactylon, hard to guess from photographs available online. I found the leaf pattern to be very interesting on this one.

Thanks Mat. Any insight as to why there are so few succulents?

ralphrmartin wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 12:52 am Thanks Mat. Any insight as to why there are so few succulents?

Hi Ralph, I somehow missed your question. I did not explore much, just did a little circle around the pyramids' complex finishing slightly "off piste" at the end. That is where I found that lonely Zygophyllum and actually quite a few of the Aizoanthemopsis. They seemed to found a little niche for themselves on a slope with what looked like traces of a small seasonal stream (see the pin below, coords 29.9683258, 31.1344700). From the graphs I shared earlier I imagine the annual precipitation there equals maybe a few dull days in the UK, and there was only sand and small pebbles around that certainly do not give any shelter from the blazing sun.

There seem to be some Euphorbias (e.g. venenifica) and Caralluma (europaea) (and probably more) native to Egypt, but I did not have time or means to "hunt" for them unfortunately.

Other in-topic plants used quite keenly in landscaping were various (common I imagine) Aloes, Agaves, Euphorbia milii and palms, which shouldn't surprise. Photographs aren't of the greatest quality, but you can spot the plants for sure.

Brilliant. One of the best informative threads for a good while.

Thanks a lot! To finish the informative aspect, on photographs above are the Muhammad Ali mosque and the walls of the Citadel of Saladin in old Cairo (with the aforementioned mosque inside).

They must be tough to survive in those conditions