on BULLETIN 271, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
A very interesting bit of exploration history attaches to the procuring of this variety. 
Mr. David Fairchild, in an agricultural exploration of Egypt in 1901, purchased in 
Fayum a quantity of dates which he regarded as the finest he had seen in Egypt and 
which he was told were ‘“ Wahi’’ from the village of Siwah in the oasis of Baharieh. 
Though it was known to Mr. Fairchild that the term ‘‘Wahi’’ had reference to the 
oasis, it was supposed for many years that this was the varietal name of the date, and 
three different men had been dispatched with commissions from the Office of Foreign 
Seed and Plant Introduction to procure offshoots of this desirable variety. During 
the writer’s trip to Dakhleh Oasis he learned from Sheik Abu Bakr that Saidy, the 
export date of the Libyan oases, is sold by the Bedouin traders when they reach the 
Nile Valley as “ Wahi,’’ the date from “el Wah,”’ or the oasis. Samples of the fruit, 
purchased in the markets of Wasta, in Fayum, and directly from the traders under 
the name of “ Wahi,’’ proved perfectly identical with samples of Saidy brought from 
Dakhleh and Khargeh, establishing beyond question the Saidy as the long sought 
“Wahi.’’ Though 108 Saidy offshoots were purchased in Khargeh on this trip, the 
first introduction of Saidy offshoots dates from the purchase through Mr. H. A. Rankin, 
S. P. I. No. 11485, in 1904, said to be “from Fayum.’’ As this variety is not known in 
the Fayum country, it is probable that Mr. Rankin secured the offshoots through 
Bedouin traders from the oasis of Baharieh, between which points there is constant 
traffic. 
Another interesting phase of the hale discussion is the very close resemblance, 
if not the absolute identity, of the Saidy with the Siwah grown in the upper sections 
of Gizeh Province. 
SAMANY, SAMIANI, OR RASHEDI. 
(Trees noted in the Gizeh Garden; fruit in Cairo markets from Edku.) 
The Samany date is one of the most striking and characteristic varieties of Lower 
Egypt, and, by the natives, it is counted one of the best. 
The trees are very heavy bodied, not as tall as Zagloul, and have longer leaves 
than any variety the writer has ever measured—164 feet being the length of one 
specimen, seemingly not above the average. The ribs are very heavy and strongly 
rounded at the base, sometimes 12 to 14 inches broad at the attachment with the 
trunk, and taper to the apex so as to give a heavy but graceful curve to these immense 
leaves, which are rather wide apart, forming an open crown. There are 12 to 16 inches of 
clear petiole below the spines. The long, slender, acute spines occupy about 3 feet of 
the rib; the long, rather soft pinne are arranged peas evenly, giving a broad, nearly 
smooth open blade with the breadth carried well out to the soft, flexible tip. In the 
eroup arrangement of the pinne the antrorse class disappear at about the middle of the 
blade, leaving the outer portion largely dominated by the introrse pinne, which 
form angles of 40° to 58° with the axis. Asa variety to afford an imposing ornamental 
tree, in addition to producing a desirable fruit, nothing finer than this can be selected 
from the Egyptian list. 
In fruit this variety is easily the most striking and peculiar of all the delta varieties. 
The heavy compact bunches are borne unevenly on coarse, strong strands, or ‘‘ sham- 
rokh.’’ The fruits are about 2 to 24 inches long, 14 inches broad, rather oblique, and 
inclined to be oblong for about two-thirds of the length, when the diameter is reduced 
so abruptly as to form a sort of shoulder on the outer side, and it narrows to an obtuse, 
unsymmetrical apex (fig. 8). 
The ground color of the fruit is close to ‘‘orange-buff” (R. III) or “‘Capucine orange” 
(R. IIT), shaded, mottled, and streaked longitudinally with a color for which ‘“‘pome- 
eranate purple” (R. XII) is the nearest definition, yet hardly satisfactory. This 
describes the hard, half-ripe, or ‘‘rutab,”’ state in which this date is always marketed. 
The fiesh is then firm to brittleness, white, fine grained, juicy, mildly sweet, with 
scarcely a trace of astringency or tannic-acid flavor. In this stage it is greatly relished 
