DATES OF EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 37 



SULTANY. 



(Known only in limited numbers in the Dakhleh Oasis.) 



Trees of the Sultany variety are tall "with moderately heavy trunks, the ribs being 

 of medium breadth at the base and tapering rather slightly toward the apex. The 

 spine area is about 28 per cent of the blade length, the spines slender and acute, 2 or 3 

 to 5 or 6 inches long, passing to ribbon pinnae of three-fourths of an inch broad and 17 

 to 18 inches long at 4 feet. The greatest length of normal pinnae, about 22 inches, 

 follow these, but the length of 16 to 20 inches is maintained nearly to the apex, where 

 they drop to a length of only 12 to 16 inches. The greatest breadth of 1-J- inches is 

 reached by a portion of the pinnae at 7 to 10 feet from the base. 



These leaves have several remarkable characters, the high number of antrorse pinnae, 

 more than half of the entire number, being the most striking feature. These are set 

 at very narrow angles of axial divergence and diverge strongly from the plane, giving 

 a narrow valley bordered by strongly antrorse pinnae that are well placed for defense. 

 The unusually small number of introrse pinnae stand at angles of 45° to 69°. The 

 retrorse pinnae form axial angles varying from 30° to 45°, but lie in the blade plane or 

 at slightly dorsal angles. The thickness of the pinnae varies from 0.018 to 0.021 of an 

 inch. The general color is bluish green, with a heavy waxy coating. The pulvini 

 are large, with some tendency to being caudate, with a few groups coalescent. The 

 fruit stalks are moderately long, the strands (shamrokh) are long, and both are bright 

 orange. 



The unripened fruit is a waxy yellow. The mature fruit is oblong, If to 2 inches 

 long, seven-eighths of an inch broad by three-fourths of an inch deep, showing a dis- 

 tinct dorso-ventral flattening, with sides marginate toward the apex. The meeting 

 of the marginal ridge by a sligbt or decided curve at the abruptly apiculate apex gives 

 an obtuse wedge form, which is a character of this variety. The greater flattening of 

 the ventral face and the curve of the marginal ridge in that direction are sufficiently 

 pronounced to enable one to determine by inspection the dorsal and ventral surfaces 

 of the fruit, as is proved by sectioning and disclosing the seed (PI. XV). 



The surface of this fruit has many small longitudinal furrows united by finer trans- 

 verse reticulations. 



The darker apical portions are colored "bay" or "chestnut" (R. II) with lighter 

 portions from "honey yellow" to "cream buff" (R. XXX). There is a thin "laven- 

 der" (R. XXXVI ) bloom over all. 



The firm, nearly dry flesh is from one-eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch thick. 

 The outer, more sirupy parts are colored like the darker portions exteriorly, the inner 

 layer a "cartridge buff" (R. XXX). The seeds, about \\ inches long and three- 

 eighths of an inch broad, are a good deal corrugated. They taper slightly toward the 

 base and have a broadly rounded apex. The germ pore is about three-fifths of the seed 

 length from the base, the ventral furrow being broad and shallow. 



Beneath the rather closely adhering membranaceous coating the seeds are "fawn 

 color" (R. XL, 



In the atmospheric conditions of Washington these fruits mn 40 or 42 to the pound} 

 ;.<"! si •■: months after harvest. The seeds constitute about 13 per cent of the gross 

 weight, a ratio which must be expected to run higher in dry dates than in the moist 

 varieties. 



This variety is believed by Mr. Brown, Horticulturist of the Egyptian Ministry of 

 Agriculture to be the true Kult:i.ny, though I hero are one or two other variolic in the 

 Nile Valley which an: called by that name. Tins is only known to occur in Dakhleh 

 ' I - and only eight trees of it are definitely known, of these, all but one have passed 

 the offshoot-bearing stage. The eighth tree proved to be a "thirsty" one, located on 

 a ditch from a failing well, This had two or three grown "daughters," on one of 

 which were two small offshoots of a size u> move and several which were too email 



