DATES OF EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. Onl 
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 pinne of three-fourths of an inch broad and 17 
to 18 inches long at 4 feet. The greatest length of normal pinnz, 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 14 inches is 
reached by a portion of the pinne at 7 to 10 feet from the base. 
These leaves have several remarkable characters, the high number of antrorse pinne, 
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 pinne that are well placed for defense. 
The unusually small number of introrse pinne stand at angles of 45° to 69°. The 
retrorse pinnz form axial angles varying from 30° to 45°, but le in the blade plane or 
at slightly dorsal angles. The thickness of the pinne 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, 1% 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 slight 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 (Pl. 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. Il) 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 14 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 run 40 or 42 to the pound) 
weighed six 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 Sultany, though there are one or two other varieties in the 
Nile Valley which are called by that name. This isonly known to occur in Dakhleh 
Oasis 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 to move and several which were:too small 
