KEY TO THE VARIETIES. 97 



** Fruit not spherical or nearly so. 



*** -Fruit at least 3 mm. shorter than twice the width. 



Broad soft dates. 



**** Flesh dark colored, very soft and sirupy, date not keeping 

 its shape well when ripe. 



Sirupy broad soft dates, pp. 99-100. 

 **** Flesh rather firm, not sirupy, date keeping its shape well 



when ripe Firm broad soft dates, pp. 100-101. 



*** Fruit at least 3 mm. longer than twice the width. 



Narrow soft dates, pp. 101-102. 



*** Fruit about twice as long as wide Intermediate soft dates. 



**** Decidedly wider near the apex than at base. 



Obovate intermediate soft dates, p. 103. 



**** Decidedly wider at the base than near the apex, tapering 

 from near or below the middle to the apex. 



Ovate intermediate soft dates, pp. 103 to 105. 



**** As wide or nearly as wide at the apex as at the base, either 

 widest at or near the middle or else of about the same 

 width throughout. 



Oblong intermediate soft dates, pp. 105-106. 



2. KEY TO THE VARIETIES. 



DRY DATES. 

 SMOOTH-SKINNED DRY DATES. 



Fruit only 25 mm. long (smallest of the Tunisian varieties), about 17.5 mm. wide, 

 ovate or obovate, bright bay (IV, 5) when ripe, the skin ochraceous (V, 

 7) to cinnamon rufous (IV, 16) ; flesh 2.5 mm. thick, becoming hard and 

 dry, more than one-half of it consisting of the white central portion; 

 seed 18 mm. long, about 9 mm. wide, smooth, drab brown (III, 18), the 

 ventral channel narrow, open, the germ pore generally considerably 

 above the middle; giant cells in a sharply defined zone forming about 

 one-half the thickness of the dark outer part of the flesh, very small, 

 nearly all rounded, rarely more than 1 times as long as wide, mostly 

 spherical but some elliptical and pear-shaped, orange colored; branches 

 of the fruit clusters bright (lemon) yellow Angoo (p. 74). 



Fruit 35 to 40 mm. long, about one-half as wide, often slightly wider just above 

 the middle than elsewhere, then narrowed to the truncate or blunt- 

 pointed apex, dull bay (IV, 5) colored when ripe, the skin rufous (IV, 7) 

 to hazel (IV, 12) colored; flesh 3 to 4 mm. thick, not becoming very dry; 

 seed 21 to 25 mm. long, one-third to two-fifths as wide, rounded at both 

 ends, Isabella brown (III, 23) in color, the ventral channel narrow, open, 

 the germ pore above the middle; giant cells very uniform in size and 

 shape, spherical or nearly so, rufous (IV, 7) colored; branches of the 

 fruit clusters light orange Kenta (p. 73). 



WRINKLED DRY DATES. 



Fruit about 32.5 mm. long, three-fifths to two-thirds as wide, ovate in outline, 

 dull orange yellow before maturity, purplish maroon (IV, 2) or bay 

 (IV, 5) colored when ripe; flesh 3 mm. thick, the white central portion 

 much thicker than the dark outer zone ; seed averaging 20 mm. long 

 and 10 mm. wide, Isabella brown (III, 23), the ventral channel wide, open, 

 the germ pore near the apex of the seed, conspicuous; giant cells very 

 small, all rounded, nearly all spherical, orange rufous (IV, 13) in color; 

 branches of the fruit clusters pale orange Bayjoo (p. 83). 



Fruit only about twice as long as wide. 



a Although in fruits cut open several weeks after gathering the converse ap- 

 pears to be true, owing to the suffusion of the white zone with sirup from the 

 dark portion. 



30618 No. 9206 7 



