Extinct tree grows anew from ancient jar of seeds unearthed by archaeologists

[Recursion]

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/extinct-tree-grows-anew-after-archaeologists-dig-ancient-seed-stockpile.html

For thousands of years, Judean date palm trees were one of the most recognizable and welcome sights for people living in the Middle East -- widely cultivated throughout the region for their sweet fruit, and for the cool shade they offered from the blazing desert sun.

From its founding some 3,000 years ago, to the dawn of the Common Era, the trees became a staple crop in the Kingdom of Judea, even garnering several shout-outs in the Old Testament. Judean palm trees would come to serve as one of the kingdom's chief symbols of good fortune; King David named his daughter, Tamar, after the plant's name in Hebrew.

By the time the Roman Empire sought to usurp control of the kingdom in 70 AD, broad forests of these trees flourished as a staple crop to the Judean economy -- a fact that made them a prime resource for the invading army to destroy. Sadly, around the year 500 AD, the once plentiful palm had been completely wiped out, driven to extinction for the sake of conquest.

In the centuries that followed, first-hand knowledge of the tree slipped from memory to legend. Up until recently, that is.

[jberryhill]

1. Wait until they find out it eats people

People had finally rid themselves of this dangerous man-eating tree hundreds of years ago, and now it has returned!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. Lol. I thought the same thing.

You sons of bitches! You've killed us all!!!!!!!

[jberryhill]

9. The only thing that will stop it is Kudzu

[rock]

26. Too bad

Since Kudzu is so very hard to grow!

[Taitertots]

3. I, for one, welcome our returning tree overlords

[BlueJazz]

16. !!

[progressoid]

27. Feed me Seymour!

[aggiesal]

33. And the tree is thinking to itself ...

WOW! It's hotter than I remember.
What's going on?

[senz]

41. Yeah, sad.

On the bright side, date palms are desert trees, so they should adjust okay. I don't even want to think about other tree species...

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

4. There's another story about it linked on the page as well.

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/date-palm-grown-2000-year-old-seed-dad.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I think this is fabulous news!

Long may the tree live and thrive!

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

6. So amazing! I find this welcome and encouraging news.

nt

[Angry Dragon]

7. nice

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Recursion.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Wonderful if they are capable of surviving a desert ecosystem, because

they could serve as the marshland of the desert.

[JCMach1]

38. Similar to the date palms we had in the UAE and across the MENA region... this will add some new-old

DNA for the tree population...

They can survive full-on desert as long as they get water... but they just need a minimal amount

[PowerToThePeople]

11. Re-seed the desert! n/t

[ananda]

12. Wow

What a beautiful tree.

[Marr]

13. It couldn't really have been driven to extinction by the Romans, could it?

I mean, unless it was found exclusively in a domesticated variety. I don't see how an invading army could wipe out a viable, indigenous plant like that in the ancient world.

[Recursion]

14. Climate change had a lot more to do with it

The late Roman Empire saw a warming period troublingly similar to our own.

[Marr]

17. That sounds more realisitic.

Not as dramatic, but more realistic.

[Thor_MN]

22. That was the Date Palm of Judea...

OK, Monty Python aside, this seed sprouted in 2005, was transplanted from pot to soil in 2011 and produced pollen this year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm

[nadine_mn]

30. Well the Romans did drive the Silphium plant to extinction

the plant was used for birth control and was so popular they wiped it out.

[muriel_volestrangler]

39. No, the article just got that from an out-of-date Wikipedia reference

Last edited Sat Aug 15, 2015, 08:09 PM - Edit history (1)

It gives as its reference for that Wikipedia; but Wikipedia (now, at least; the article is 2 years old) says

Asaph Goor in his 21-page article History of the Date through the Ages in the Holy Land never mentions any such Roman devastation of the date palms, but rather cites numerous contemporary accounts attesting to the continuing extent of date cultivation through the Roman period. Goor only detects a decline in date cultivation through the period of Arab rule and especially during the Crusades, when he notes that the devastation of the region was particularly hard on the palm plantations. However, despite this, extensive cultivation persisted in Jericho and Zoara, until the agrarian economy collapsed around the 14th century. Goor attributes this final decline to a change in the climate, and quotes several later travelers to the area as to the rarity of date palms, including Pierre Belon, who in 1553 scoffed at the idea that the region could have ever produced the bounty of dates reported in ancient sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm

Oh, you know what the reference that Wikipedia has for "sometimes claimed that date growing as a commercial fruit export stopped at the end of 70 CE, when the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans" was? A pastor who wanted to make a religious thing of it: http://www.follow-the-light.org/2010/03/extinct-judean-date-palm-grows-after.html

A cached version of a PDF of Goor's history, if you want to read it all: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8NPP6qjzL7YJ:rbedrosian.com/Gardens/Goor_1967_Date.pdf+&cd=17&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Or see p.267 of "Date Palm Genetic Resouces, Vol. 2", which points out that the Romans were very good for the expansion of ther Judean date palm cultivation, and its humbers gradually died out over several centuries.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lbu2BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA267&lpg=PA267

What did the Romans ever do for the date palm, eh?

[ALBliberal]

15. My name is Tammy which comes from Tamar ... and I knew it was the name of

A judean tree. Hmmmm. Interesting to me on a personal level!

[Xipe Totec]

18. And Tamarind - the Indian Date has the same derivation.

from Arabic: تمر هندي‎, romanized tamar hindi, "Indian date"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind

[colsohlibgal]

19. Very Cool

Historical stories like this fascinate me.

[yardwork]

20. Very cool!

[underahedgerow]

21. It's also possible the species died off due to a mass infestation of sorts. Right now in Europe and

in the USA there are several different pests wiping out several species of Palm trees. Two of the most prevalent are a bacterium spread by birds (in So Cal) and in Southern Europe we've got a moth larvae that's killing off lots of Palms... It's so sad to see looooong tall brown trunks with nuffin on top. Just all trunk, no tree.

Treatment runs several hundred bucks a tree each year, and it's only preventative, they can't be saved once they're infested.

[eppur_se_muova]

46. The Medjool date palm was wiped out by disease in Morocco ...

only eleven healthy specimens, transplanted to Nevada, survived. Medjools were later re-introduced to Morocco, having established date cultivation in CA and other southwest US states. It was a tiny group of individuals responsible for their rescue:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/04/25/how-one-indian-couple-saved-fruit-kings-154535

A similar disaster befell the French vineyards in the 19th century. Grafting to American rootstocks provided the only remedy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_French_Wine_Blight

[NickB79]

48. Similar to the fate of the American Chestnut

Until 1900, one in four hardwoods east of the Mississippi was a chestnut, outnumbering oaks, maples, and ash. Then chestnut blight was introduced from Asia, and within 50 years the species was effectively extinct except for specimens planted on the West Coast where blight never reached.

[stage left]

23. fascinating!

[retrowire]

24. WOAH, but will it survive? n/t

[senz]

43. There are date palms in California, so it's not that fragile.

[NaturalHigh]

25. Awesome. I hope they can successfully revive the species.

[PatrickforO]

28. A mental exercise

Let's go back in time in our mind's eye. We can imagine the people of Judea groaning under the weight of the Roman occupation. At night, a small group of Jews was returning to their village and spotted a smoldering orchard. The cursed Romans burning the date palms. For what?

As the group was passing it by, one member said, "Wait."

He walked through the still smoking trees and saw a part of a tree still living. Why it did not burn he could not guess. In its branches he saw two overripe dates. They were ripe, and on impulse, he took them and put them in his bag.

The next day, he went to see his Rabbi, and gave him the dates. The Rabbi removed the too-ripe fruit from the seeds and cleaned them, thinking that soon there would be no more date palms because of the Romans. Later that evening, he put the seeds in a small jar and went to the city walls. As he looked out across the once verdant hills, he saw nothing but charred stumps. At once he knew what to do.

A week later, he journeyed to Herod's palace and gave the seeds to his daughter, who was a servant there. That evening, after her duties were done, she went to a deserted part of the grounds where no one would see, and buried the jar as her father had asked.

That is foresight.

[silverweb]

34. Easy to imagine it happened that way.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]You paint a very clear picture.

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. But the Romans continued to cultivate it, and so did others, for over a thousand years

see #39.

[senz]

42. Love it. Could have happened sorta like that.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

29. Here in Vegas I'm plucking palm tree sprouts in the yard....

They grow like weeds.

[dembotoz]

31. Can u imagine the market for its fruit?

Biblical fruit that Jesus ate
Extinct from pretty much his death....
Mentioned in the bible

[glinda]

32. Has Monsanto bought the seed rights yet?

[valerief]

35. Monsanto will make it extinct in five...four...three...

[tecelote]

36. Climate Change is a Human Thing

Earth will survive.

[ohheckyeah]

37. Let's hope

the trees can come back.

How cool.

[4_TN_TITANS]

44. Hence the extreme importance of seed banks

for our own modern survivors.

[OldSparky]

45. It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!

[allan01]

47. etinct .: somebody forgot to tell the tree :)