Date palm

Lore & Background

Date palms reach up to 30 metres in height, growing singly or in clumps with several stems from a single root system. The date palm is dioecious, with separate male and female plants, and sex determination occurs through an XY sex-determination system. Dates are naturally wind-pollinated, but in traditional oasis horticulture and modern commercial orchards, they are entirely hand-pollinated. Manual pollination is done by skilled labourers on ladders or by use of a wind machine; in some areas, such as Iraq, the pollinator climbs the tree using a special climbing tool. A genomic study showed that domesticated date palm varieties from North Africa share large parts of their genome with Middle East date palms and the Cretan wild palms, P. theophrasti, as well as Indian wild palms, Phoenix sylvestris.

Reader's Guide

The date palm holds profound significance as a staple crop in arid and semi-arid regions, providing a nutritious fruit rich in sugar. Its cultivation is emblematic of oasis agriculture and highly symbolic in Christian and Jewish religions. The species is the type species of the genus Phoenix, which contains 12–19 species of wild date palms. Modern commercial plantations rely on cuttings of heavily cropping cultivars, as only 50% of seedlings are female and fruit-bearing, and seedling dates are often smaller and of poorer quality. Major pests include the red palm beetle and the dubas bug. The date palm continues to be cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South and Southeast Asia, Portugal, Spain, coastal Mediterranean basin, and the desert regions of Southern California, as well as in Sonora and Baja California in Mexico.

Did You Know?

• Dates contain 63–64% sugar by mass when dried.
• The date palm is dioecious, with separate male and female plants, and sex is determined through an XY sex-determination system.