[EternalVigilance]

An ancient and very beneficial plant flourishes in the Holy Land.

Awaiting Muslim threats to smash it and throw it into the sea...

[Sleeping Freeper]

All I can say is cool!!!!

[BigFinn]

Very interesting article. Wonder why they were wiped out in 500 AD.

[RightResponse]

The sex of the sapling is unknown, but the researchers are hoping for a female, which would bear fruit.

Imagine hooking up a 2000 year old Jewish date, that was interested in bearing fruit!

[Mamzelle]

Yé! utúvienyes!

blast from the past...

[Convert from ECUSA]

Some good news from Israel - ping!

[chuckles]

The real significance of this is religious. Jesus told us of seeds that had to die to live. A seed will sit dormant for years(even thousands), and still retain the ability to come alive. Just as our souls are dormant and dead until we die to self and live for Him.

This is the image of Baptism. We die by being held under water, but rise to new life. He wanted us to know that he would be "planted", only to rise to new life. It is also depicting the verse that we "see through a glass darkly". We cannot know, by looking at ourselves, what we will become in a glorified state. If you look at a kernel of corn, could you ever envision a corn stalk, or an acorn an oak tree?

[VOA]

Hey, that even surpasses the germination of ancient lotus seeds (200-500 years old):
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98052&page=1

[zeugma]

GGG ping?

[layman]

References to it are made in the Bible, the Koran, and other ancient literature. Judean date palms were wiped out by about A.D. 500

Strange how the Koran would reference a tree that became extinct about 150 years before the Koran existed. But, come to think of it, there is much about the Koran which is strange.

[Rebelbase]

2000 year old sprouts! Very cool.

Along those lines, the thought of cloning dinosaurs from the DNA in mosquito blood trapped in Jurassic age amber might make a good movie plot. :-0

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

..................

[griffin]

if it sprouts from a seed isn't it called a seedling? Saplings come from already existing tree material, correct?

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[aimhigh]

A sapling germinated earlier this year from a 2,000-year-old date palm

Of course, this tree won't talk, unlike the modern, more evolved trees.

[Alexander Rubin]

Coolio.

[don-o]

Check this out. Behold the power of the Creator!