Talk:Judean date palm
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Not a species. Not a Lazarus taxon. A reference might halp sort out what's actually happening here. --Wetman 05:01, 8 September 2005 (UTC)
Why did it become extinct in the first place????Michalis Famelis 01:25, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
I'm still confused, even with the references, though the sprouting of the seed is spectacular in itself. The "Judean date palm" is not a different species from Phoenix dactylifera the date palm of universal commerce, but a long-lost antique cultivar, isn't that it? We aren't reading about a different species of the genus Phoenix. Aren't we being told that the date palm, P. dactylifera became locally extinct in the area? The date palms in California were imported there in the 19th century, so the fact that Israel's modern date palms came from Californian stock isn't biologically relevant. Dates are cultivated nearby in the Sinai and in Jordan. --Wetman 04:34, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
- I agree with these concerns; what species etc. are we looking at, and how do they think this seed differs from modern varieties? Fascinating article! --Dvyost 13:53, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] 2000 years old tree?
"The oldest tree seed that's ever been sprouted." Ehm, I seem to remember that researchers have grown seeds found in Arctic/Antarctic ice. Those seeds were at least 50 thousand years old or so... (Some of those seeds grew to big coniferous trees typical for the far north and some to very nice flowers by the way.) But for a non-frozen seed 2000 years might be some kind of record. Sorry to spoil the fun... But yeah, it is impressive that a living cell can hibernate for thousands of years and then grow into a tree. --David Göthberg 14:24, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
I'd like to see a source on that. It seems doubtful that seeds could last 50,000 years because the DNA would become degraded.Gary 23:31, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Seedling might not be a real Judean date palm?
I'm not a botany expert, but if the Judean date palm is a true cultivar, that means it was propagated exclusively by cuttings by the original farmers, like apple or grape varieties. Would this mean that the seedling currently being grown won't mature into a true Judean date palm? Unless I'm mistaken, a seed from a Granny Smith apple won't grow into a true Granny Smith apple tree, maybe a similar situation would occur here. It'll be a date palm obviously, but with different characteristics from the parent tree. --Bk0 00:50, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] update?
I was wondering if there were any updates about this plant. Is it still growing? I haven't heard anything from it since 2005. Gary 18:33, 19 March 2006 (UTC)
Yes, its still growing and thriving. I last heard about it around January 2006. Its got quite a few leaves. I'll try source the article I saw and update the wikipedia entry. Ayinyud 09:34, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
Ah, here we go. I managed to find a news article from February 2006. Check it out at [1].Ayinyud 09:41, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
Thanks! I'm glad to see that it's doing well. Gary 07:10, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
