Date Palm

The Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera is a palm, extensively cultivated for its edible fruit. Due to its long history of cultivation for fruit, its exact native distribution is unknown, but the date palm probably originated somewhere in the desert oases of north Africa, and perhaps also southwest Asia. It is a medium-sized tree, 15-25 m tall, often clumped with several trunks from a single root system, but also often growing singly. The leaves are pinnate, up to 3 m long, with spines on the petiole and about 150 leaflets; the leaflets are 30 cm long and 2 cm broad.

History of dates

Dates have been a staple food of the Middle East for thousands of years. The date palm is believed to have originated around the Persian Gulf, and has been cultivated in ancient times from Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt, possibly as early as 6000 BC. There is archeological evidence of cultivation in eastern Arabia in 4,000 BC.

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In later times, Arabs spread dates around northern Africa and into Spain, and dates were introduced into California by the Spaniards in 1765, around Mission San Ignacio.

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