Ghaf
Prosopis cineraria
Full sunSalt: 4 of 5
Native
ShrubNative
Arak
Salvadora persica
أراك
A native UAE shrub so salt-tolerant it can be irrigated with water almost as salty as the sea, traditionally harvested for miswak chewing sticks.
Mature size2–5 m tall, 2–4 m spreadGrowthModerateSunFull sunWaterVery low
Heat: 5 of 5
Salt: 5 of 5
Drought: 5 of 5
Shade: 1 of 5
Ease of care: 5 of 5
See it planted
In a Dubai garden
Season
Through the Dubai year
How Arak behaves through Dubai's seasons, month by month.
JJan
FFeb
MMar
AApr
MMay
JJun
JJul
AAug
SSep
OOct
NNov
DDec
Avg high °C
24°
26°
29°
34°
38°
40°
42°
42°
40°
36°
31°
27°
Best planting window
Best planting window
Spring flush
Spring flush
Small greenish-yellow flowers
Small greenish-yellow flowers
Small sweet fruit
Small sweet fruit
Light shaping
Light shaping
Best planting window: Oct–Feb
Plant in the cool season so roots settle before summer heat.
Spring flush: Mar–Apr
Small greenish-yellow flowers: Feb–Apr
Small sweet fruit: Apr–Jun
Traditionally eaten; also draws birds.
Light shaping: Jan–Feb
Tidy the drooping branches or train as a small multi-stem tree.
Arak is evergreen, so it never goes bare, but the cool season is when it's most active: plant between October and February so roots settle in before summer, then watch a spring flush of soft new growth through March and April. Small greenish-yellow flowers appear from February through April, followed by small sweet fruit from April into June that draws birds and is traditionally eaten. A light shaping prune in January or February keeps the naturally drooping branches tidy. Through summer it simply holds its form on minimal water, its glaucous, fleshy leaves unbothered by the heat that stresses more delicate exotics.
Meet the plant
Meet the Arak
Meet arak, a plant that has been useful to people here for far longer than it has been ornamental. Long before it had any role in a designed garden, its twigs were being cut, chewed and frayed into miswak — a habit so deeply embedded in the region's daily life that the World Health Organization still names it as an effective, natural oral hygiene aid. That working history gives the plant a different kind of presence: it isn't grown to impress, it's grown because people here have always known what it's for.
Visually it has none of the discipline of a clipped hedge. Its branches droop and cascade in soft, untidy curtains of fleshy grey-green leaf, closer to a willow's informality than the rigid lines of most Gulf landscaping. Left loosely shaped, it reads as genuinely wild — a deliberate note of unmanicured desert character against the trimmed hedges and lawn around it.
What it brings to the mood of a garden is resilience without effort. Planted where the soil has gone salty, where a saltwater pool splashes the border, or right on a coastal boundary, arak simply carries on while almost everything else struggles — a reminder, in plant form, of what actually survives here without irrigation trucks and imported topsoil.
Arak grows wild in sandy wadis, dunes and coastal plains across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. It's an evergreen shrub or small tree with soft, drooping branches and fleshy, glaucous leaves, and it has one of the widest salt tolerances of any UAE native: ICBA rates it extremely salt tolerant, capable of growing in soil and irrigation water up to seawater strength.
Its best-known use is as miswak — the root and twig traditionally chewed as a natural toothbrush across the region, still recommended by the World Health Organization as an oral hygiene aid. In spring it carries small greenish-yellow flowers, followed by small sweet fruit that is traditionally eaten and draws birds.
In a villa garden, arak's extreme salt tolerance makes it useful exactly where exotic shrubs struggle: near the coast, next to a saltwater pool, or in soil that has built up salts over years of irrigation. Its light, drooping canopy pairs naturally with Ghaf, Samr and Date Palm in a native or desert-modern planting.
Give it a couple of seasons to establish and then leave it alone: like most UAE natives it is slow to moderate growing and needs very little water or feeding once its roots are down.
Design
Where to use it
WindbreakInformal native screenCoastal or saline-soil plantingBird-attracting shrub
Use it exactly where salt is the limiting factor for anything else: right on a coastal boundary, next to a saltwater pool, or in a bed where years of irrigation have built up salts in the soil. Its drooping habit wants room to cascade rather than being crowded against a wall — allow its full 2–4 m spread. Left unclipped it gives a native planting scheme a genuinely wild, soft-textured edge; clipped, it still works as a loose windbreak or screen, just with more maintenance than a formal hedge plant.
Ghaf
Both are UAE natives suited to the same low-water, saline conditions, with arak's soft drooping form contrasting ghaf's upright canopy.
Samr
A classic native desert-modern pairing — two acacia-adjacent, salt-tolerant species that need no irrigation infrastructure once established.
Date Palm
Arak's low, spreading screen works well as underplanting beneath a date palm's high canopy without competing for the same root zone.
Care guide
How to grow it in Dubai
- Watering
Summer: Established plants tolerate brackish or reclaimed irrigation water; a deep soak every 2–3 weeks is enough even in peak summer.
Winter: Little to no irrigation needed once mature.
Establishment: Water weekly for the first few months while roots establish.
- Soil
- Tolerates poor sandy, saline and even seasonally waterlogged soils; no amendment needed.
- Feeding
- Rarely needed; a light feed at planting is enough.
- Pruning
- Light shaping after flowering keeps the drooping branches tidy; can be trained as a small multi-stem tree or clipped as a screen.
- Planting
- Plant in the cool season (October–February); dig wide rather than deep and water in well.
- Pests
- Generally trouble-freeOccasional scale insects
Avoid these
Common mistakes
- Clipping it into a tight, formal hedge shape from the start. Arak's natural habit is loose and drooping — fighting that with hard, frequent shearing costs effort for a look the plant isn't suited to.
- Planting it in rich, amended, well-irrigated soil out of habit. It performs best, and stays most true to its wild character, in the poor sandy or saline ground it evolved for — heavy feeding and watering can push soft, floppy growth instead.
- Overlooking it as an option for a coastal or high-salinity site simply because it's less commonly stocked than mainstream shrubs. Few plants in the library match its documented tolerance of seawater-strength salinity.
- Cramming it into a tight border. Give it its full 2–4 m spread from the start rather than planning to keep it small with constant pruning.
Extra notes
Good to know
- ICBA rates arak as extremely salt tolerant, capable of growing in soil and irrigation water up to seawater strength — one of the most salt-tolerant shrubs available for a UAE garden.
- The root and twigs are the traditional source of miswak, a chewing stick for oral hygiene that the World Health Organization recognises as an effective natural toothbrush alternative.
- It is a genuine UAE native, documented growing wild in wadis, dunes and coastal areas across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
- The small fruit is traditionally eaten and draws birds, giving it a habitat value beyond its use as a screen or windbreak.
Toxicity: Not known to be toxic. The fruit is traditionally eaten and the twigs are chewed as a natural toothbrush (miswak).
Pros
- Extremely salt tolerant — ICBA rates it viable at up to seawater salinity
- Native to the UAE, so it is genuinely low-input once established
- Traditional source of miswak, a WHO-recognised natural toothbrush
- Sweet, edible fruit that attracts birds
- Very low water and feeding needs
Cons
- Drooping branch habit can look untidy unless lightly shaped
- Slow to moderate growth, especially in the first year or two
- Less widely stocked than mainstream ornamental shrubs
- Fleshy leaves and twigs shed some litter near paths or pools
FAQ
Common questions
What is arak used for?
Its root and twigs are the source of miswak, a traditional chewing stick for oral hygiene that the World Health Organization recognises as an effective toothbrush alternative. It is also grown as a hardy, salt-tolerant landscape shrub.
How salty can the soil or water be for arak?
Very salty. ICBA's survey of UAE salt-tolerant plants rates arak as extremely salt tolerant, capable of growing with irrigation water up to seawater strength — one of the most salt-tolerant shrubs available for a UAE garden.
Is arak native to Dubai?
Yes. It grows wild in wadis, dunes and coastal areas across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, and is documented as a native UAE species in the UAEFlora reference database.
Does arak need much water in a Dubai garden?
Very little once established — a deep soak every couple of weeks in summer is usually enough, and established plants need almost no water in winter.
Can arak be shaped into a formal hedge, or does it have to stay loose and drooping?
It can be clipped into a more formal screen, but that works against its natural habit and needs more frequent trimming than letting it keep its loose, cascading shape. Most Dubai plantings let it grow informally and shape it only lightly.
Not sure how it suits your garden?
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Related plants
Sources
Last reviewed 2026-09-30 by Ghaf Gardens horticulture desk.
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