PlantsMap

EN PL

8 plants worth knowing

Iraq

Iraq is ancient Mesopotamia – the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates where agriculture was born. The centre and south are taken up by irrigated alluvial plains with date palm groves, desert stretches across the west, and vast reed marshes fill the far south-east. In the north, in Kurdistan, rise the Zagros Mountains, clothed in oak woodland.

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

where it grows

  1. Date palm 1

    palm · National tree of Iraq, symbol of Mesopotamia

    Date palm

    Phoenix dactylifera

    As late as the 1970s Iraq had more than 30 million date palms – more than any other country.
  2. Common reed 2

    grass

    Common reed

    Phragmites australis

    The Marsh Arabs build floating islands and monumental mudhif guesthouses from reeds – just as the Sumerians did 5,000 years ago.
  3. Euphrates poplar 3

    tree

    Euphrates poplar

    Populus euphratica

    This poplar is named after the Euphrates – its riverside woods are the only natural forests on the dry plains of Mesopotamia.
  4. Persian oak 4

    tree

    Persian oak

    Quercus brantii

    The oak woods of the Zagros Mountains are Iraq’s largest forests – the galls of this oak were once used to make ink and dyes.
  5. Liquorice 5

    perennial

    Liquorice

    Glycyrrhiza glabra

    The Ramadan drink irk sus – a dark, sweet infusion of liquorice root – is sold from huge jugs on the streets of Baghdad.
  6. Rice 6

    crop

    Rice

    Oryza sativa

    Fragrant anbar rice from around Najaf and Diwaniyah is the pride of Iraqi cooking and the basis of festive rice dishes (timman).
  7. Christ’s thorn jujube 7

    tree

    Christ’s thorn jujube

    Ziziphus spina-christi

    The sidr – a jujube with sweet nabk fruit – grows in the courtyards of Iraqi homes, and its leaves are traditionally used to wash the dead.
  8. Barley 8

    crop

    Barley

    Hordeum vulgare

    Barley was the main grain of Sumerian Mesopotamia – it served as food, as a means of payment and as the raw material for brewing beer.