The tree of life, Bahrain The southern portions of the island of Bahrain are a desert, not particula
The tree of life, BahrainThe southern portions of the island of Bahrain are a desert, not particularly hospitable to life. However, while traveling through that desert, one may come upon roadsigns directing a traveler to the “Tree of Life”, the small bit of greenery seen here.The tree of life is a type of tree/shrub known as Prosopis cineraria, a relative of the Mesquite commonly seen in the western hemisphere deserts.The tree is believed to be over 400 years old and reportedly sits on a hill close to the highest point on the island, in the middle of the ruins of a 500 year old fortress. The reason for its name should be obvious; the tree has stood here, a lone sentinel through hundreds of years of time with seemingly no water supply. There are no streams, no grasses, no bushes, it is at least a kilometer (possibly much more, sources aren’t quite in agreement) to the nearest growing plants.This type of tree has one property that helps it survive here. It’s not known how far down the roots of this tree go, but members of the related mesquite tree have been found with roots growing over 50 meters deep to reach buried water in the desert. Groundwater supplies in this area are about 10 meters down, so a tree with long roots should have no trouble finding water. Of course, that does leave one question I can’t answer; since it couldn’t start off growing with 10 meter roots, how did the tree take root in this location those many years ago?The tree is visited by about 50,000 people a year. For years it sat with only a small fence to protect it and it has been repeatedly damaged by vandals, including having its trunk carved and partially burned. Reportedly though the government of Bahrain stepped in to improve and protect the area last year with upgraded facilities.-JBBImage credits: (Creative commons) Ewan McIntoshhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/edublogger/5063893389/sizes/o/Denise Krebshttps://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsdkrebs/11736732593/sizes/o/Read more:http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/As/Bahrain/Southern/TreeOfLife.htmhttp://www.worldtoptop.com/mysterious-tree-of-life-bahrain/http://www.tradearabia.com/news/MEDIA_233558.html -- source link
#nature#landscape#mesquite#desert#persian gulf#bahrain#prosopis cineraria#water