Arabian Gallery

Saudi Arabian desert

Saudi Arabian desert. Combined infrared and visible satellite image of the Jabal Tuwayq ridge (down centre) in the rocky desert region of Najd in central Saudi Arabia. North is at top. Jabal Tuwayq is a ridge that extends for hundreds of kilometres. It is the western edge of a large escarpment, and rises up to 250 metres above the plain to its west. Numerous dry water courses (wadis) are seen draining the ridge to the east. The image is 185 kilometres wide. Photographed by Landsat 1 on 24th September 1972

© EARTH SATELLITE CORPORATION/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Persian pharmacy, 13th century artwork

Persian pharmacy. 13th century Arabic artwork entitled The Preparation of Medicine from Honey'. This image was produced in Baghdad, Iraq, whilst it was still part of the Persian Empire. It is from a 1224 Arabic translation of the manuscript De Materia Medica, written by the ancient Greek physician Dioscurides (c.40-c.90 AD), in which he described herbs and herbal remedies. A doctor can be seen stirring the medicine in a large bowl over an open fire (centre), while the large pots (urns) used to store it are at top

© SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Thistle species

Showy Mexican scarlet thistle, Erythrolaena conspicua, Arabian cotton thistle, Onopordum arabicum, and blue-flowered carthamus, Carthamus caeruleus. Handfinished chromolithograph by Henry Noel Humphreys after an illustration by Jane Loudon from Mrs. Jane Loudon's Ladies Flower Garden of Ornamental Perennials, William S. Orr, London, 1849. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans