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June 13, 2005
2,000 year-old seed from extinct date tree sprouts
Myopic Zeal is reporting that the original date palm of Judea, praised in the Bible and the Koran for its shade, food, beauty and medicinal qualities, was destroyed long ago by the crusaders. However, some 2,000 year old seeds were recovered from an excavation at Masada in the Judean Desert of Israel in the 1970's. The Masada is a cliff fortress where, in A.D. 73, 960 Jewish zealots died by their own hand, rather than surrender to a Roman assault. Recently, one of the 2,000 year old seeds, nicknamed Methuselah, was planted and has sprouted into a healthy, growing date tree. It's a foot tall so far, and growing. If it's a female date tree, then it should produce dates when it reaches maturity in 30 years.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on June 13, 2005 at 1:23 PM
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