Not everything in the Sahara is sand. After rain, wild arugula (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) is one of the first plants to spring up across the desert floor, and it turns out to be useful in more ways than you might expect.

Growing After Rain

2024’s unusually rainy autumn made for the greenest desert in around 40 years, according to local guides, with wild arugula carpeting areas that are normally bare sand and gravel for weeks at a time.

Food for Camels, and for Bees

Dromedaries graze on it readily when it appears, and it is also an important nectar source for local bees — honey made from desert arugula blossom has a distinctive, peppery edge that sets it apart from more common honey varieties.

On the Nomad Table

Nomadic cooks use the leaves in several traditional dishes: worked into tagella (a type of sand-baked bread), scrambled into a nomad-style omelette similar to chakchouka, or tossed into a simple salad with tomatoes, onions, olives and goat cheese.

A Plant for Everything

It is a small plant that quietly supports camels, bees and people alike — a fitting reminder that the desert, even at its driest, is rarely as empty as it looks.

Related Reading

• Birds of the Sahara and Its Oases
• The Fennec: The Fox of the Sahara
• The Dromedary: The Essential Companion of Saharan Nomads

Curious to experience it yourself? Explore our guided desert treks.