CHARACTERS OF THE LEAVES OF THE DATE PALM. 3 



THE DATE TREE. 



Date trees have no true branches, but during their earlier years, 

 and under some conditions up to a considerable age, buds are pushed 

 in the axils of the leaves and later develop into suckers or offshoots. 

 These, if left undisturbed, may form trunks and tops of their own 

 and grow to a size second only to the parent tree and identical with 

 it in leaf and fruit characters. When these offshoots are removed 

 at a proper size and planted by themselves they afford the only 

 means we have of propagating the parent variety true to type. 

 (Sec PL I.) 



The flower stalks of the date are produced from the axils of the 

 leaves in similar positions to those in which the offshoots are pro- 

 duced. 



While many genera of palms have either perfect or monoecious 

 flowers, all species of the genus Phoenix are dioecious, the male and 

 female flowers being borne on separate trees. In rare instances both 

 pistillate and staminate flowers are produced on the same spike. 1 



In noticing a date tree closely, one finds only a central columnar 

 trunk, from the one bud at the top of which new leaves are pushing 

 out, while around its sides the older leaves clasp the stem with their 

 broad-sheathed bases. If the tree has reached some age and the 

 trunk has gained a few feet in height, the older lower leaves will 

 probably have been cut away, leaving a foot or more of their bases 

 arranged in orderly position around the trunk in the manner of 

 reversed tiles. Closely wedged in between these are dozens of sheets 

 of very tough, coarse-matted fiber, called tl leef" by the Arabs, 

 the remnants of the leaf sheaths. (PL II.) The real trunk of the 

 date tree is inside of these and is greatly strengthened and protected 

 by them. It is strengthened and supported by the wrapping of 

 their tough fibers against the leverage of the desert winds, which 

 exert a powerful pressure upon the broad top. It is protected from 

 bruising and battering or the gnawing of grazing animals, and 

 insulated alike against the intense heat or the sudden freezing 

 weather of the winter months, which may descend upon even a 

 date-growing desert. 2 



LEAF CHARACTERS OF THE DATE. 



Upon a casual examination of a date leaf the most obvious feature 

 is the long flexible blade, which may vary in length from 3 or 4 feet 

 in a young plant to 9, 12, or even 16 feet in a tree of mature age. 

 (PL III.) 



1 As the various species of this genus hybridize readily with one another, the so-called date palms grown 

 in many nurseries and sold for ornamental planting in California and Florida are often crossed to such 

 an extent that the true dactylifcra characters, as found in the trees obtained from the Sahara, are difficult 

 to recognize, and the application of the rules laid down in this bulletin to such would lead to confusion. 



2 Date trees i:\ Arizona and California subject for a few hours to a temperature of 15° or 18° F. may have 

 the outer leaves killed, or at 12° F. all exposed leaves may be killed and the protected bud or growing 

 point of the tree remain uninjured, so that new leaves are pushed from the center when spring opens. 



