Dioecious trees - like boxelder, persimmon, white ash, ginkgo, holly, red cedar, Osage orange, aspen and willow – are either male or female. Male trees produce pollen, and female trees produce flowers and fruit. Date palms are among the oldest types of dioecious trees. Birds and insects aren’t attracted to date palm flowers, so humans have to take their place. Judean date palms have been extinct for nearly two thousand years, most likely because their human pollinators were beset by war, famine, drought and pestilence. In 1963, 2,000-year-old date palm seeds from this extinct species were discovered near Jerusalem. In 2005, several were planted and tended, and seven living date palm trees were the result. Their names are Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, Hannah, and Methuselah. I’m hoping those names don’t reflect the trees’ gender, because five males and two females aren’t likely to spell a comeback for the species.
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