Re: After 2,000 Years, a Seed From Ancient Judea Sprouts

This would be my guess--it is probably a Phoenix species, maybe even dactylifera [doubt the species has changed much in a couple of thousand years]. Phoenixes are very promiscuous. All the species cross very easily, so if it's a female any Phoenix male could pollinate it. It's doubtful the pollinator would have any influence on the quality of the fruit--only on the genetic make up of the seed. One would want to use a P. dactylifera, however, so any offspring of that cross would be close to resembling the female parent as possible.

I would also guess that the fruit will be something of a disappointment. Two thousand years of selecting cultivars, first in what is now Libya [where some trees survived the Crusades] and then the US has most likely resulted in better fruit.


On Jun 12, 2005, at 12:34 PM, Kitty wrote:

Re > "O.K, I have a date plant," Dr. Solowey said. "If it lives, it will be
years before we eat any dates. And that's if it's female. There's a 50-50
chance. And if it's a male, it will just be a curiosity."

OK, Jim, let's say it is female. It will need a male for pollination.
Sounds like the other 2 seeds didn't germ. So...if it is pollinated by a
newer variety of date, would that alter the outcome? I'm not very good at
understanding this.

Kitty
neIN, Z5
----- Original Message -----
From: "james singer" <islandjim1@verizon.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 9:51 AM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] After 2,000 Years, a Seed From Ancient Judea Sprouts


Ooops, guess it lost the link. Try this:

http://hort.net/+4


On Jun 12, 2005, at 10:45 AM, james singer wrote:
Don't know how many of you peruse the Times, but this is a very
interesting article in this morning's paper

[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/gif which had a name
of spacer.gif]
 INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST   | June 12, 2005
 After 2,000 Years, a Seed From Ancient Judea Sprouts
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Israeli doctors and scientists have succeeded in germinating a date
seed nearly 2,000 years old.


Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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