Lycium shawiiArabian Boxthorn

The Lycium shawii, commonly known as the Arabian Boxthorn or Awsaj, is a spiny, densely twiggy shrub of the Arabian Peninsula and north east Africa. It carries small fleshy grey-green leaves in tight clusters along rigid thorny branches, with pale mauve to white funnel-shaped flowers and small orange-red berries.

It is a genuinely thorny native shrub with real value as impenetrable boundary planting and as bird habitat, and it survives on rainfall alone once established. Specifiers use it for native restoration, security and boundary planting and wildlife-focused schemes.

Specifications

• Height1 to 3 metres
• Width1.5 to 3 metres
• Native toThe Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Egypt and north east Africa
• FoliageSmall, thick, grey-green spoon-shaped leaves clustered along rigid thorny branches; drought-deciduous
• Growth rateModerate

Conditions

• SoilAccepts sandy, gravelly, rocky and mildly saline soils; needs free drainage
• LightFull sun
• WaterVery low; strongly drought-tolerant, shedding leaves in drought and reshooting after rain
• ClimateThrives in hot arid and semi-arid regions across Arabia and north Africa

Additional Features

• FlowersPale mauve to white funnel-shaped flowers scattered along the branches, mainly after rain
• FruitSmall orange-red berries, edible and taken heavily by birds
• UsesNative restoration, impenetrable boundary and security planting, wildlife habitat schemes, verge and embankment planting
• SpacingPlant 1.5 to 2 metres apart for a continuous thorny boundary
• Low MaintenanceRequires no routine care; cut back only where spread onto paths must be controlled
• Pest ResistanceRobust with no significant recurring pest or disease problems
• Drought ToleranceVery high, persisting on natural rainfall in genuinely arid country
• Wildlife AttractionOne of the most valuable native shrubs for birds in Arabia, giving both berries and thorny nesting cover

The Arabian Boxthorn does two jobs at once: it keeps people out and it brings birds in.