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Cynomorium coccineum

Common names

Abushal, Desert Thumb, tarthouth

Extract from Wikipedia article

Cynomorium coccineum is a parasitic perennial flowering plant in the Cynomoriaceae, a family consisting of only one (or perhaps two) species in the genus Cynomorium. Its wider relationships are uncertain. Common names include the misleading Maltese fungus or Maltese mushroom; also desert thumb, red thumb, tarthuth (Bedouin) and suo yang (Chinese). A rare or local species, it grows in dry, rocky or sandy soils, often in salt marshes or other saline habitats close to the coast. It has had a wide variety of uses in European, Arabic and Chinese herbal medicine.

Dried parasitic plant Cynomorium coccineum (desert, or red thumb, tarthuth) in dunes of Jazirat Umm Tays, barrier island at northern tip of Qatar, east from Ruwais, March 24, 2012
Al Sadd St, Doha, Qatar

Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab in south-western Qatar, February 21, 2014
Unnamed Road, Qatar

Flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab in south-western Qatar, February 21, 2014
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Cluster of flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab in south-western Qatar, February 21, 2014
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Close up of a flower of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab in south-western Qatar, February 21, 2014
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) taken from a beach near Umm Bab in south-western Qatar, February 21, 2014

Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab in south-western Qatar, March 3, 2014
Unnamed Road, Qatar

Parasitic plant Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab in south-western Qatar, March 3, 2014
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab in south-western Qatar, March 3, 2014
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Blooming Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Young flower of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Emerging flower of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Flower of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) with red scales on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Club-shaped inflorescense of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Minute scarlet flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Parasitic plant Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) with a host plant Zygophyllum qatarense on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Salt tolerant parasitic plants of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Dark-red inflorescence of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Emerging dark-red inflorescence of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Fleshy flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
Unnamed Road, Qatar

Dark-red flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on fleshy, unbranched stems on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Emerging dark-red flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Parasitic plants of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) forming "fairy ring" circle near a host plant Zygophyllum qatarense on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Dissected fleshy inflorescence of a parasitic plant Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) taken from a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 10, 2015

Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) water well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 30, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Club-shaped flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) water well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 30, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Club-shaped flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) water well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 30, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) on a sand mound in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) water well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 30, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) emerging from sand in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) water well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 30, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Habitat of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum, local name tartouth) in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) water well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 30, 2015
56, Umm Bab, Qatar

Flowers of Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum) near a rocky ridge in Jabal Al Jassasiya site, on north-eastern coast. Qatar, February 21, 2015
Unnamed Road, Qatar

Partially decomposed fruits of a parasitic plant Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum) in sands of Maszhabiya (Al Mashabiya) Reserve near Abu Samra. Southern Qatar, October 23, 2015
Bu Samra Rd, Qatar

Remains of dried fruits of a parasitic plant Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum) in Maszhabiya (Al Mashabiya) Reserve near Abu Samra. Southern Qatar, October 23, 2015
Bu Samra Rd, Qatar

Desert Thumb (Cynomorium coccineum) on a beach a beach in the area of Al Hamala (Al Hamlah) Water Well near Umm Bab. South-western Qatar, January 30, 2016
Unnamed Road, Qatar

Links

• Flora of Qatar.
• Unknown plants or plants without names.
• Duplicate and extra pictures of plants.
• Earlier version of collection of plants.
• Other collections of pictures from Qatar: Lizards of Qatar, Cats of Qatar, Camels of Qatar, and Fish of Qatar.
• Picture archives.
• Home page of A. Sergeev.

Outside links

• Cynomorium coccineum, Wikipedia article
• Cynomorium coccineum from www.catalogueoflife.org
• Ekhlas M. M. Abdel Bary, The Flora of Qatar, Volume I: The Dicotyledons. Doha 2012
• Flora of Qatar, Volume II: The Monocotyledons
• Illustrated Checklist of the Flora of Qatar. John Norton et al. 2009
• Qatar eNature. Flora
• Ali Al-Rawi, Flowering plants of Kuwait, 1985
• Plants of Kuwait
• Flora of Saudi Arabia, Al-Qassim Region
• Flora of Eastern Saudi Arabia by Rain and Dust at Flickr
• Plants of South-Western Morocco
• Pictures from Qatar (Flickr/cpmkutty)
• Arabian plants by Gary Brown
• Flora of Israel

How the web page was created

• A list of plants with their common names was written using online sources and books.
• Web pages were written by a program consisting of several scripts.
• Full names, synonyms, and classification of plants were found online from catalogueoflife.org and theplantlist.org using a script.
• Pictures of plants were selected from a database using a script.
• This web page was written using a script.

Acknowledgements

QNHG (Qatar Natural History Group) and associated people, for a possibility to participate in their field excursions and to learn about local nature.