Israeli researchers grow new date plants from 2,000-year-old seeds: Six saplings sprout from ancient kernels gathered at Judean archaeological sites; scientists hope to pollinate female plants and produce fruit

Times of Israel ^ | February 6, 2020 | Stuart Winer and Sue Surkes

[Mrs. Don-o]

#15

and

#17

[Ezekiel]

I love these stories.

Adam, now 1.5 meters high (1.6 yards), and Jonah have already produced flowers. Judith, and Hannah are the great hopes for supplying dates. They will be fertilized by Methusela.

>>>

“Methusela has grown into a big boy,” said Solowey. “He’s around 3.5 meters (3.8 yards) high and very stout. He doesn’t look like the kind of date we know today.”

Translation: no soy in Methusela's diet.

[ApplegateRanch]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm

>>>By May 2015, the palm was 3.0 metres (9.8 ft) tall and was producing pollen.[5]

Even if the pollination of a female Judean date palm, grown of a seed from the same batch, with Methuselah’s pollen should succeed, the resulting fruit would not represent the recreation of the original ancient cultivar, i.e. the resulting fruit will not have the taste of its ancient predecessor, given that cultivars are created through repeated asexual reproduction through shoots, and not through seeds.<<<

Methuselah, sprouted in 2005, will now have playmates?

[SunkenCiv]

:^) Yeah, and the wiki page entry obviously has some problem with Jews, as well as with basic reproductive biology. :^) True French Tarragon is grown from cuttings because the flowers of the breed are sterile. This is not the case with date palms.