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Ana J Phoenix Biography & Facts

Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, and is naturalized in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. P. dactylifera is the type species of genus Phoenix, which contains 12–19 species of wild date palms. Date palms reach up to 30 metres (100 feet) in height, growing singly or forming a clump with several stems from a single root system. Slow-growing, they can reach over 100 years of age when maintained properly. Date fruits (dates) are oval-cylindrical, 3 to 7 centimetres (1 to 3 inches) long, and about 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter, with colour ranging from dark brown to bright red or yellow, depending on variety. Containing 61–68 percent sugar by mass when dried, dates are very sweet and are enjoyed as desserts on their own or within confections. There is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in Arabia from the 6th millennium BCE. The total annual world production of dates is 8.5 million metric tons (9.4×10^6 short tons), countries of the Middle East and North Africa being the largest producers and consumers. Dates are "emblematic of oasis agriculture and highly symbolic in Muslim, Christian, and Jewish religions". Description Date palms reach up to 30 metres (100 feet) in height, growing singly or forming a clump with several stems from a single root system. Slow-growing, they can reach over 100 years of age when maintained properly. The roots have pneumatodes. The leaves are 4–6 m (13–20 ft) long, with spines on the petiole, and pinnate, with about 150 leaflets. The leaflets are 30 centimetres (12 inches) long and 2 cm (1 in) wide. The full span of the crown ranges from 6–10 m (20–33 ft). The date palm is dioecious, having separate male and female plants. They can be easily grown from seed, but only 50% of seedlings will be female and hence fruit-bearing, and dates from seedling plants are often smaller and of poorer quality. Most commercial plantations thus use cuttings of heavily cropping cultivars. Plants grown from cuttings will fruit 2–3 years earlier than seedling plants. Dates are naturally wind-pollinated, but in traditional oasis horticulture and modern commercial orchards, they are entirely hand-pollinated. Natural pollination occurs with about an equal number of male and female plants. With assistance, one male can pollinate up to 100 females. Since the males are of value only as pollinators, they are usually pruned in favor of fruit-producing female plants. Some growers do not maintain male plants, as male flowers become available at local markets at pollination time. 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 that wraps around the tree trunk and the climber's back (called تبلية in Arabic) to keep him attached to the trunk while climbing. Date fruits are oval-cylindrical, 3–7 cm (1–3 in) long, and 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) diameter, and when ripe, range from bright red to bright yellow in colour, depending on variety. Dates contain a single stone (seed) about 2–2.5 cm (3⁄4–1 in) long and 6–8 mm (1⁄4–5⁄16 in) thick. Three main cultivar groups exist: soft (e.g. 'Barhee', 'Halawy', 'Khadrawy', 'Medjool'); semi-dry (e.g. 'Dayri', 'Deglet Nour', 'Zahdi'), and dry (e.g. 'Thoory'). Genome A draft genome of P. dactylifera (Khalas variety) was published in 2011 followed by more complete genome assemblies in 2013 and 2019. The later study used long-read sequencing technology. With the release of this improved genome assembly, the researchers were able to map genes for fruit color and sugar content. The NYU Abu Dhabi researchers had also re-sequenced the genomes of several date varieties to develop the first single nucleotide polymorphism map of the date palm genome in 2015. Etymology The species name dactylifera 'date-bearing' is Latin, and is formed with the loanword dactylus in Latin from Greek daktylos (δάκτυλος), which means 'date' (also 'finger'), and with the native Latin fero, which means 'to bear'. The fruit is known as a date. The fruit's English name (through Old French, through Latin) comes from the Greek word for 'finger', δάκτυλος, because of the fruit's elongated shape. Distribution The place of origin of the date palm is uncertain because of long cultivation. According to some sources it probably originated from the Fertile Crescent region straddling Egypt and Mesopotamia while others state that they are native to the Persian Gulf area. Fossil records show that the date palm has existed for at least 50 million years. Ecology A major palm pest, the red palm beetle (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), currently poses a significant threat to date production in parts of the Middle East as well as to iconic landscape specimens throughout the Mediterranean world. Another significant insect pest is Ommatissus lybicus, sometimes called the "dubas bug", whose sap sucking results in sooty mould formation. In the 1920s, eleven healthy Medjool palms were transferred from Morocco to the United States where they were tended by members of the Chemehuevi tribe in a remote region of Nevada. Nine of these survived and in 1935, cultivars were transferred to the "U.S. Date Garden" in Indio, California. Eventually this stock was reintroduced to Africa and led to the U.S. production of dates in Yuma, Arizona, and Bard, California. Cultivation Dates are a traditional crop throughout the Middle East and north Africa. Dates (especially Medjool and Deglet Nour) are also cultivated in the southwestern United States, and in Sonora and Baja California in Mexico. Date palms can take 4 to 8 years after planting before they will bear fruit, and start producing viable yields for commercial harvest between 7 and 10 years. Mature date palms can produce 70–140 kilograms (150–300 pounds) of dates per harvest season. They do not all ripen at the same time so several harvests are required. To obtain fruit of marketable quality, the bunches of dates must be thinned and bagged or covered before ripening so that the remaining fruits grow larger and are protected from weather and animals, such as birds, that also like to eat them. Date palms require well-drained deep sandy loam soils with a pH of 8–11 (alkaline). The soil should have the ability to hold moisture and also be free of calcium carbonate. Dates have been cultivated in the Middle East and the Indus Valley for thousands of years, and there is archaeological evidence of date cultivation in Mehrgarh, a Neolithic civilization in western Pakistan, around 7000 BCE and in eastern Arabia between 5530 and 5320 calBC. Dates have been cultivated since ancient times from Mesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt. The ancient Egyptians used the fruits to make date wine and ate dates at har.... Discover the Ana J Phoenix popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ana J Phoenix books.