Judean date palm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Judean date palm is a cultivar of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera). The cultivar was thought to have become extinct sometime around 1 CE, but in 2005, a preserved 2,000-year-old seed was used to grow the palm again. It is one of the oldest known human-assisted germination of a seed.
[edit] History
The date palm was considered a staple in the Judean Desert, as it was a source of food, shelter and shade for thousands of years, and became a recognized symbol of the Kingdom of Judea. The tree and its fruit caused Jericho to become a major population center and are praised in the Hebrew Bible several times, such as in Psalm 92 ("The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree… they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing."). It was even said to have medicinal properties, supposedly curing many diseases and infections, promoting longevity and acting as a mild aphrodisiac. Its likeness was engraved on shekalim, the ancient Jewish unit of currency.
When the Roman Empire attacked the Jordan River Valley it was reported that there were giant groves of Judean date palms over seven miles across, with trees up to 80 feet high, that ran from the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River Valley in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. Because of its importance, the emperor Vespasian celebrated the victory of the Romans over the Judeans in the Great Jewish Revolt in Iudaea Province by minting the Judea Capta–a bronze coin that showed a Judean woman weeping beneath a date palm.
A date palm is also featured on the ten-shekel coin of the New Israeli Shekel.
[edit] Modern germination
In the 1970s, during excavations at Herod the Great's palace on Masada in Israel, two-thousand year old Judean date palm seeds were recovered. The age of the seeds was confirmed by radiocarbon dating. The seeds were then held in storage at Bar-Ilan University.
On January 25, 2005 (Tu Bishvat, the Jewish new year for trees), Dr. Elaine Solowey, a specialist on indigenous fruit trees for the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies,[1] planted three of the seeds at Kibbutz Ketura in the Arabah desert of southern Israel. One of the seeds sprouted six weeks later. The plant later grew one palm frond. As of February 6, 2006, there were five fronds.
Date palm trees are dioecious and can be either male or female—where only the female produces fruit. If the plant is female, it may produce fruit by 2010 (presumably by pollination from a male tree of a modern variety), and then more trees may be planted.
The current sample is nicknamed "Methuselah" after the oldest person in the Bible.
[edit] Sources
- "An extinct biblical plant returns to life." Israel Today. August 16, 2005.[2]
- Berger, Robert. "Israeli scientists germinate 2,000-year-old seed." Voice of America News. June 13, 2005.[3]
- "Date palm grown from 2,000-year-old seed: Ancient variety may reveal medicinal qualities." Associated Press. June 13, 2005.[4]
- Erlanger, Steven. "After 2,000 years, a seed from ancient Judea sprouts." The New York Times. June 12, 2005.[5]
- Kalman, Matthew. "Seed of extinct date palm sprouts after 2,000 years." San Francisco Chronicle. June 12, 2005.[6]
- HaLevi, Ezra. "2,000-Year-Old Judean Date Seed Growing Successfully." Israel National News. February 6, 2006. [7]
