It typically grows in coarse, stony or sandy soils at the edge of saltflats, around salt marshes, and in the sand that accumulates on the base of depressions.

[4] On well-drained sandy soil on coastal plains, Z. qatarense may cover 75% of the ground surface, and this plant community is probably the most commonly encountered around the western side of the Persian Gulf.

In the Persian Gulf area the summer is very hot, any ground moisture present evaporates and the soil becomes increasingly salty.

[2] The leaf structure and physiology also change with the season, with unifoliate xeromorphic leaves better able to withstand water loss being present during the summer.

[2] The plants are found growing in association with several species of soil microfungi, regularly with Cladosporium sphaerospermum, but also sometimes with Penicillium citrinum and Aspergillus fumigatus.