Phoenix dactylifera L.
Eng.: Date palm. Spa.: Palmera datilera. Fre.: Palmier dattier. Ara.: Nekla, nakla, nakhl el-balah, nakhel, nkhel, nhel, tazdayet, abluh, afrukh, agjut, takzifet, tyiniyut, tmer, temra. Tam./Tamahaq: Tanekht, tazdaït, tazzaït, tazutel, tezdit, tigzdaïl, tezdaï, tafinaut, isgaren, azuan, hozdacht, ubnas, tazoêldôk, talisdik, tinnay, talazdag; the fruit: tabluht, tinni, tayné.
Tree up to 30 m in height, evergreen, dioecious, with slender, straight, fibrous trunk, covered with grey remains of the base of the old leaves that have fallen. Leaves appear directly at the end of the stem. Leaves very large (2.5-6 m long), pinnate, with a rachis very enlarged and almost lignified at the base, with numerous “leaflets” or linear segments of 20-40 cm long, folded lengthwise with the edge downwards, forming a kind of channel. Basal leaflets are shorter, rigid, subcylindrical and prickly. Inflorescences very large, ramose, pendant, protected by large, elongated and hardened bracts (spathe). Flowers unisexual, yellowish, with 3 lanceolate sepals and 3 petals twice in length, ± oval. Male flowers with 6 stamens and female flowers with 3 free carpels, of which 2 will abort and the 3rd will give rise to the fruit. Fruit an oblong drupe (2.5-6 cm long), yellowish at first, then dark brown-red when ripe. Seed oblong, blackish, with a pronounced longitudinal groove.
Flowering:
March to May.
Fruiting:
September to November.
Habitat:
On ± wet terrain (rivers of permanent or temporary waters, oases, terrain depressions), in warm climate and with abundant sunshine. From sea level to up to 1,500 m in altitude. In the Illamane River (Ahaggar, central Sahara), there is a wild stand at about 1,900 m in altitude, which could well be its upper altitudinal limit.
Distribution:
The natural range of this species is not well known, but should be somewhere in the Saharo-Arabian region. In North Africa it is mainly a Saharan tree, although through cultivation it has also spread through much of the Mediterranean region.
Observations:
The date palm is named after its fruits, popularly called dates. In the Sahara these fruits constitute, together with goat’s meat and milk, the staple diet for many of its inhabitants since prehistoric times. This special value of the date, and consequently, of the tree that produces it (a tree that also has many other uses) has resulted, since ancient times, in the logging and clearing of the other native forests in many rivers and Saharan oases, to be replaced by palm groves. These native forest include: poplars (mainly Populus euphratica), willows (Salix pedicellata, S. mucronata), tamarisks (Tamarix sp.), Pistacia atlantica, other palms species (Hyphaene thebaica, Medemia argun), acacias (Vachellia sp., Senegalia sp., Faidherbia albida), etc. The perfect ripening of dates does not occur in the N of the Sahara, so some authors have taken this factor into account to draw the northern boundary of the great desert. The wild, native palm is currently very rare, while most Saharan palm groves are dominated by multiple cultivar varieties.
Conservation status:
This species has never been considered threatened but currently its populations are suffering high mortality rates and in some cases completely disappearing from some oases. The cause is a weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) native to SE Asia. Yet another example of problems caused by the trade in exotic species. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species it is not assessed at a global level; but if the current mortality rate (nowadays massive in North Africa, especially in Egypt) continues, soon the wild species could become threatened. In Mali it is included in its List of species that need authorization for commercial use (Decree 07-155/P-RM of 2007).
