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5 plants worth knowing

Eritrea

Eritrea is a country of great contrasts: the cool highlands around Asmara, rising above 2,000 m, drop down a steep escarpment to the hot desert plain along the Red Sea and to the savannas of the western lowlands along the Gash and Barka rivers. Most of the country is dry, but on the eastern escarpment, thanks to mist and winter rains, the evergreen Filfil Solomon forest has survived – Eritrea’s “green belt”.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

  1. African olive 1

    tree · Olive branch and wreath on the flag of Eritrea

    African olive

    Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata

    The wild olive of the Eritrean flag – a symbol of peace and a tree that once covered the entire highlands around Asmara.
  2. Prickly pear 2

    cactus

    Prickly pear

    Opuntia ficus-indica

    Summer in Eritrea tastes of beles – prickly pears sold from buckets on every street corner in Asmara.
  3. Desert candle 3

    succulent

    Desert candle

    Euphorbia abyssinica

    A succulent that looks like a giant candelabrum – its silhouettes punctuate the rocky slopes of the Eritrean highlands.
  4. Doum palm 4

    palm

    Doum palm

    Hyphaene thebaica

    A branching palm of the dry valleys – Eritreans weave its leaves into mats, baskets and ropes.
  5. Sudanese frankincense 5

    tree

    Sudanese frankincense

    Boswellia papyrifera

    A tree whose cut bark oozes olibanum resin – the incense burned in Eritrean churches and during the coffee ceremony.