Cretan Date Palm
| Cretan Date Palm Phoenix theophrasti | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cretan Date Palm at the beach in Vai, Crete | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Arecales |
| Family: | Arecaceae |
| Subfamily: | Coryphoideae |
| Tribe: | Phoeniceae |
| Genus: | Phoenix |
| Species: | P. theophrasti |
| Binomial name | |
| Phoenix theophrasti Greuter | |
Phoenix theophrasti, the Cretan Date Palm, is a palm native to the eastern Mediterranean, with a very restricted distribution, confined in southern Greece, a few sites on Crete and other islands as well as some places on the Turkish coast. In Turkey, it is the only native palm species; all the others—although much more common—were introduced.[1]
The specific epithet theophrasti was chosen by the Swedish botanist Werner Greuter in 1967 for the fact that Theophrastus, the ancient Greek ‘father of botany,’ had described several types of palms, including one from Crete.[1][2]
Description
The Cretan species can appear quite similar to the cultivated date (Phoenix dactylifera), but the former's dates are usually inedible and its fruit clusters are upright.[2]
Phoenix theophrasti grows up to 15 m tall, usually with several slender stems. The leaves are pinnate, 2–3 m long, with numerous rigid greyish-green linear leaflets 15–50 cm long on each side of the central rachis. The fruit is an oval yellowish-brown drupe 1.5 cm long and 1 cm diameter and containing a single large seed; the fruit pulp is too thin and fibrous to be of agricultural significance and has an acrid taste, though the fruits are sometimes eaten by the locals.
Distribution
Sites on Crete include Vai in the Lasithi Prefecture, Ayios Nikitas in Heraklion Prefecture, and Preveli gorge and Souda near Plakias, both on the south coasts of Crete in Rethymnon Prefecture. Trees are also found on Amorgos island, and the south coast of Anafi island. Recently, around 10 trees, the only natural stand on the mainland, were found in an ancient palm forest in the Epidaurus area in Peloponnese. It has been proposed that, in Ancient Greece, there were many more, growing from Crete to Thebes, and from the Peloponnese to Delos.
Its presence in Turkey was not described scientifically until the 1980s.[1] There are four stands in southwest Turkey,[3] especially on the Datça and Bodrum Peninsulas in Muğla Province and in Kumluca-Karaöz in Finike Bay. The plants from a grove in the village of Gölköy in northern Bodrum are considered by some as a subspecies, being of a shorter height (4–8 m) but having longer fruit stalks (.6–2 m).[2]
Areas forested with Phoenix theophrasti, Phoenix canariensis and Chamaerops humilis constitute Europe's only palm forests.[4]
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References and external links
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hazir, A.; H. D. Buyukozturk (2013). "Phoenix spp. and other ornamental palms in Turkey: The threat from red palm weevil and red palm scale insects". Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture 25 (11): 843.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Boydak, Melih; Sasha Barrow (1995). "A New Locality for Phoenix in Turkey: Gölköy-Bödrum". Principes 39 (3): 117–122.
- ↑ "Phoenix theophrasti". ARKive.
- ↑ Johnson, D.V.; Group, I.S.P.S. (1996). Palms: Their Conservation and Sustained Utilization: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN. ISBN 9782831703527.
- Johnson (1998). Phoenix theophrasti. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 9 May 2006.
- Davis, P. H., ed. (1965-1985). Flora of Turkey. Edinburgh.