A fine tamarisk, traces of a church (which is mentioned in the 8th century), and a large reservoir, now filled up with mud, remain.
The country is naturally treeless, except for the tamarisk, which grows by the swamps and along the river-beds.
The jungle is chiefly tamarisk and padah (willow).
In the desert regions vegetation is, of course, extremely scanty, being restricted almost entirely to the tamarisk, Elaeagnus, tussock grass, and a few Salsolaceae.
The manna of the Biblical narrative, notwithstanding the miraculous circumstances which distinguish it from anything now known, answers in its description very closely to the tamarisk manna.