'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎64] (73/568)

64
FAUNA AND FLOKA
Eeeds abound in the marshes, and are used by the inhabitants for
matting and for hut-building. Coarse marsh-grasses are also used
in the construction of huts.
Two natural vegetable products have a commercial value as articles
of export, liquorice and colocynth. Liquorice is found near water,
generally on the concave side of river-bends. On the Tigris it occurs
to some extent in the Diarbekr lowlands, but mainly in the great
plains from the neighbourhood of JezIret-ibn-'Omar at least down to
the district of Kut el-Amara. On the Euphrates it is found on the
middle course of the river in the upper Mesopotamian plain, and in
Irak as far down as Diwaniyeh. It also grows on the Khabur (the
tributary of the Euphrates), the Zabs, the Diyaleh, the northern end of
the Shatt el-Hai, and in Arabistan on the Diz. Colocynth is found in
many districts, especially between Baghdad and Hilla; it is said to
be inferior to the Syrian colocynth.
Wild trees hardly exist except along the rivers and canals. On
the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris in Irak there are some groves
which have been protected by the Turkish Forests Department, but
these are not large. The gharab (Euphrates poplar), a tree of no
great size, is comparatively common. A kind of osier called
giving a good shade, occurs in Irak. The is fairly common in
Arabistan. Mulberries, several kinds of acacia, sumachs, and planes
are also found growing wild. There is a good deal of tamarisk jungle
or scrub by the rivers, especially in parts of the Euphrates valley in
upper Mesopotamia.
The Hill-country [including
The grass in the lower valleys is mostly burnt up in the course of
the summer, but grazing is to be found throughout that season on the
high mountain-slopes and plateaux, which form the summer pasture-
grounds of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.
Gum-producing plants, and especially the species of
yielding gum-tragacanth, grow in Kurdistan, Luristan, and the
Bakhtiyari country.
Of trees the oak, often in a stunted form, is the most common:
there occur ilex, cork-tree, and the from which
gall-nuts (an article of export in Kurdistan) are obtained. Walnuts,
poplars, junipers, elms, sumachs, mulberries, planes, maples, briars,
and hawthorns are also found. Some walnut wood used to be
exported to France, and the leaves of the sumach are collected and
exported for medicinal and industrial purposes.
lUHJi U ■■U. IUPK.II