288 DATE GROWING 



sometimes the reverse. Bright bay color, verging 

 on cinnamon at the base and chestnut at the apex. 

 Skin thin and tender, sometimes raised from flesh 

 in straw-colored blisters. Often marked with 

 numerous short, transverse scars (a feature that 

 often, but not always, characterizes the Saharan 

 Tafazwin). Flesh five-sixteenths inch thick, trans- 

 lucent; chestnut colored near surface verging to 

 straw inside. Some fibre. Seed one inch long, three- 

 sixteenths wide, cinnamon to hazel in color, ventral 

 channel open, deep; germ pore slightly nearer base 

 than apex. Flavor sweet but not heavy; good. 



The giant cells of this date are nearly spherical, 

 while Kearney describes those of his Tunisian speci- 

 mens as angular and two or three times as long as 

 broad. This is not a positive point of evidence, 

 however, for the giant cells of Tafazwins which I 

 brought from Algeria are nearly the shape of those 

 of the Indio palm — round or even pear shaped, 

 although prevailingly angular. 



With this evidence, certainly no one can say 

 with confidence that the Indio palm is not Tafazwin. 

 Either it or the imported palms of that name are well 

 worth growing. Dates of this variety which I have 

 kept loose for two years are still soft and in almost 

 as good condition as when they were picked. 



Tanasin, Tenaseen, Tanessin, Tenacine, 

 Temacin, probably named after an oasis in the 

 Sahara, a black date of medium size which has 

 proved successful in the United States, particularly 

 in Arizona. The palm is distinguished by its 

 horizontal or umbrella-like crown of foliage. 



