North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Ernest Plutko" <ernestplutko@wiktel.com>]

Correction.  TV said 1966 but Google says 3 years ago.  TV news often
is wrong.

---- Original Message ----
From: ernestplutko@wiktel.com
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Tree from 2,000-year-old seed is doing well
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:34:49 -0500

>
>Another date palm seed was sprouted in 1966 from a seed found at King
>Herod's fortress.  I read about it previously and it was on TV news
>today with a picture of tree.  Date palm seeds are hardy.
>
>---- Original Message ----
>From: bmn@iglou.com
>To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: RE: [NAFEX] Tree from 2,000-year-old seed is doing well
>Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:12:29 -0400
>
>>  Tree from 2,000-year-old seed is doing well
>>
>>By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Thu Jun 12, 3:42 PM ET
>>
>>WASHINGTON - Just over three years old and about four-feet tall, 
>>Methuselah is growing well. "It's lovely," Dr. Sarah Sallon said of
>>the 
>>date palm, whose parents may have provided food for the besieged
>Jews
>>at 
>>Masada some 2,000 years ago.
>>
>>The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from
>>Masada, 
>>where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to
>Roman
>>
>>attackers.
>>
>>Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well
>as
>>
>>other seeds found with it that didn't sprout, indicate they were
>>about 
>>2,000 years old — the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and
>>grown.
>>
>>Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research
>>Center 
>>at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of 
>>Methuselah in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
>>
>>One thing they don't know yet is whether it's a boy or girl. Date
>>palms 
>>differ by sex, but experts can't tell the difference until the tree
>>is 
>>six or seven years old, Sallon said.
>>
>>She hopes there's a chance to use it to restore the extinct Judean
>>date 
>>palm, once prized not only for its fruit but also for medicinal
>uses.
>>
>>The researchers have had a look at the plant's DNA, however, and
>>found 
>>it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars.
>>
>>"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants
>>were 
>>used," Sallon said in a telephone interview. "To domesticate them so
>>we 
>>have a ready source of raw material."
>>
>>Her Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project is working to conserve
>and
>>
>>reintroduce plants to the region where they once lived.
>>
>>"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead
>>is 
>>very difficult, so it's better to preserve them before they become 
>>extinct," she said.
>>
>>The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a
>>1,300-year-old 
>>lotus, Sallon said.
>>___
>>
>>On the Net:
>>Science: http://www.sciencemag.org
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