A once-extinct tree grows again! The Judean Date Palm was made extinct by the year 500 AD, thanks to
A once-extinct tree grows again! The Judean Date Palm was made extinct by the year 500 AD, thanks to the Romans. The Roman empire, in an effort to cripple the Judean economy during their conquest of the people, destroyed all the date palms. Date palms served as food, shelter, and had some medicinal properties, making it very versatile and useful to those who cultivated the tree.Fast forward approximately 1500 years, when in 1960, archeologists found date palm seeds stored in Herod the Great’s palace. No one thought that the seeds might still be able to germinate and grow, but just in 2005, Dr. Elaine Solowey planted one to see what would happen. Seeing as how many dead seeds I try to plant each year, I would have been betted on the wrong side - the plant grew! It even flowered in 2011 and was determined to be a male plant!Here is Dr. Solowey with the plant! The date palm is named ‘Methuselah,’ after the longest-living person in the Bible: The research team may choose to cross breed the plant in an attempt to get some fruit production, but that is projected to take until at least 2022, should they choose to breed Methuselah. (Bonus: learn about the potential of de-extinction of animals through The Brain Scoop’s two part video on the topic!) -- source link
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