DATE VARIETIES 267 



The fruit, as grown at Baghdad, is in form very 

 broadly oblong to oblong-obovate, usually slightly 

 broader near center of fruit and narrowing almost 

 imperceptibly toward the flattened base and the 

 flattened to broadly rounded or abrupt apex. Size 

 medium large to large, dimensions being: length, 

 one and one-fourth to one and one-half inch, 

 breadth at widest point, seven-eighths to one inch. 

 Surface uneven, somewhat glossy, a beautiful, trans- 

 lucent, golden brown in color, overspread with a thin, 

 bluish-gray bloom. Skin firm, medium thick but 

 not tough, deeply wrinkled in all directions and 

 occasionally separating from the flesh to form coarse 

 folds and blisters. Flesh light golden brown, trans- 

 lucent, very delicate in texture, soft and almost 

 melting in the mouth, three-eighths to five-eighths 

 inch thick. Seed broadly oblong, rounded to blunt 

 at base and tapering sharply to apex, length three- 

 fourths to seven-eighths inch, breadth five-sixteenths 

 inch, surface fairly smooth, cinnamon brown in 

 color, ventral channel almost or wholly closed. 

 Flavor very mild, with only a suggestion of the 

 characteristic taste of the date, in which respect it 

 resembles the Saharan Deglet Nur more closely than 

 any other Mesopotamian date; sweet but not too 

 much so; extremely pleasant and not cloying, as it 

 contains little syrup. 



Fruit grown in California is similar; firm enough 

 to be handled and pack well, but the flesh remains 

 tender and melting even after the lapse of a year. 

 After some months, however, the evaporation of 

 moisture leaves the skin in large blisters of a tawny 

 olive color. 



