18 



BULLETIN 223, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



has the spine area shorter than any of the true Deglet Noor measure- 

 ments, while the pinnae are more crowded and have lower percentages 

 of antrorse and retrorse pinnae and higher percentages of introrse 

 and undetermined pinnae. 



There are also a lower percentage of double groups of pinnae and 

 higher percentages of triple and quadruple groups than have been 

 noted in any true Deglet Noor. On the whole it is considerably out- 

 side the recorded range of variation for the Deglet Noor variety, 

 though nearer the type than the average of supposed half bloods. 



It seems to be a good working hypothesis that there is a close cor- 

 relation between the leaf and fruit characters of the date tree. If 

 this be true, we should look for male trees having the leaf characters 

 within the range of Deglet Noor variation to give us trees most capa- 

 ble of transmitting Deglet Noor qualities where used as pollinators. 

 Failing in this quest, we must use those coming the nearest to such 

 character. 



So far, no male trees have been found among the Deglet Noor 

 seedlings which correspond to the best Reed seedling in being nearly 

 true to foliage type. Mr. Reed's seedling male trees Nos. 1 and 2 

 are trees of a strong Deglet Noor character, but fall considerably 

 short of the type. However, they have been used as pollinators, and 

 many seeds of Deglet Noor fruit of such pollinations have been sown, 

 but none are old enough to have proved themselves. 



Table I. — Comparison of the average leaf characters of four important varieties of date 



palms. 



Average leaf characters. 



Deglet Noor. 



Deglet Noor, 



Reed's 



seedling. 



Deglet 

 Noor, 

 slender- 

 fruited 

 seed- 

 ling. 



Hayany. 



Menakher. 



Thoory. 



Blade length inches. . 



Spine area: 



Length do 



Percentage of blade length 



Total number of pinnse on 



126 



43 

 35.5 



91 



32 

 35+ 

 20 

 22— 

 30 

 33- 

 9 

 10- 



20 

 61- 

 9 



27+ 

 4 

 12+ 



0. 016-0. 022 

 . 4064-. 5588 



116 



38 

 33 



98 



35 



36- 



24 



24+ 



32 



33- 



7+ 



22 

 67- 



8 

 24+ 

 3 

 9+ 



0. 016-0. 018 

 . 4064-. 4727 



110 



24 

 22 



96 



30 



31+ 



26 



27+ 



29 



30+ 



11 



12- 



11 



40.7+ 



8 

 29.6 



8 

 29.6 



122 



23 

 18 



96 



31 



32+ 



19 



20- 



33 



34+ 



13 



14- 



27 

 77+ 



7 



20 



1 



3 



0. 017-0. 020 

 . 4318-. 5080 



144 



32 

 22 



122 



27 

 22+ 

 58 

 47- 

 35 

 29- 

 2 

 2- 



12 

 32+ 

 19 

 52 

 6 

 16+ 



0. 017-0. 022 

 . 4318-. 5588 



126 



32 

 25.6 



Distribution: 



25 



Percentage of total 



36+ 

 16 



Percentage of total 



23+ 

 21 



Percentage of total 



31- 



Percentage of total 



Number of groups of pinnse: 



10+ 

 15 



Percentage of total 



In groups of three 



Percentage of total 



60 

 8 



32 

 2 



Percentage of total 



Thickness of pinnae: 



8 

 0. 022-0. 030 





. 5588-. 7620 







