Phoenix dactylifera, Date Palm,
Tamr תמר מצוי , تمر
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.
Psalm 92:12-14
LINK: Date palm buds after 2.000 years in Ketura
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| | Scientific name: |
| Phoenix dactylifera L. |
| Common name: |
| Date Palm |
| Hebrew name: |
| תמר מצוי |
| Arabic name: |
| Tamr تمر |
| Family: |
| Arecaceae / Palmae, דקליים |
Date Picture Taken: June 16, 2007
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| | Life form: |
| Phanerophyte, tree |
| Leaves: |
| Alternate, entire, spinescent |
| Flowers: |
| Green |
| Flowering Period: |
| April, May |
| Habitat: |
| Humid habitats |
| Distribution: |
| Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts |
| Chorotype: |
| Saharo-Arabian |
| Summer shedding: |
| Perenating |
Date Picture Taken: April 23, 2007
Derivation of the botanical name:
Phoenix, Greek name for the date palm, used by Theophrastus, indicating that the tree was first introduced to the Greeks by the Phoenicians.
dactylifera, Greek dactylos δακτυλοϛ, finger, toe; Latin fero, I bear; bearing fingers, furnished with fingers.
- The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
Dates are naturally wind pollinated which requires about an equal number of male and female plants. In modern commercial horticulture pollination is entirely manually and one male can pollenize up to 50 females. Since the males are of value only as pollenizers, this allows the growers to use their resources for many more fruit producing female plants. Some growers do not even maintain any male plants as male flowers become available at local markets at pollination time.
There are three main fruit types: soft, semi-dry, and dry. The type of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose and sucrose content.
Dates ripen in four stages, which are known throughout the world by their Arabic names: kimri (unripe), khalal (full-size, crunchy), rutab (ripe, soft), tamr (ripe, sun-dried).
W.H. Barreveld, [Date Palm Products (FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 101, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome 1993)], describes the four stages of dates growth: Hababauk is the term used for the female flower and the period just after pollination when the young fruit is still creamy white before gradually turning green at the utab stage. At the utab stage there is a rapid increase in size, weight, and reducing sugars; it is the period of highest acid activity and moisture content (up to 85%). All factors level off at the end of this stage when the fruit starts to turn yellow (or red according to variety). At this point the date seed could already germinate and the fruit is botanically mature. At the khalaal stage weight gain is slow but sucrose content increases, moisture content goes down, and tannins will start to precipitate and lose their astringency. In some varieties this latter process evolves rapidly, which makes them already palatable at the khalaal stage, and one could speak of commercial maturity for this type of fruit at this stage. With (normally) the tips of the fruit starting to turn brown, the utab stage sets in which is characterized by a decrease in weight due to moisture loss, a partial (the degree depending on the variety) inversion of sucrose into invert sugar and a browning of the skin and softening of the tissues. The moisture content goes down to about 35% and the dates at this stage are sold as fresh fruit. Only when the dates are left to ripen further on the palm will they turn into tamr, climatic conditions permitting, characterized by a moisture content at which the date is self-preserving. The upper limit for the date to be self-preserving lies at around 24-25%. Dates distinguish themselves therefore from most other fruit in that they have a botanical maturity and at least 3 distinct commercial maturation levels, the sweet khalaal, the utab, and the tamr stage.
Date formation
Date Picture Taken: October 6, 2005
Date Picture Taken: October 7, 2007
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