Hello, visitor!
Article about date nut palm tree:
Learn about their identifying features, including leaf shapes and growth patterns, to help you recognize and choose the right variety for your landscape. 8 Different Types of Date Palms & Their Identifying Features (With Photos) This article may contain affiliate links. We may earn a small commission if you purchase via these links.
>> ENTER THE SITE <<
Learn more. Home » Tree Types » 8 Different Types of Date Palms & Their Identifying Features (With Photos) Date Palms are in the Phoenix genus of palm trees in the Arecaceae family. While they are as tall as trees, they are more closely related to grasses than any tree species. Only the True Date Palm produces large fruits that are grown for fruit production. While the other date palms produce edible fruits, they are smaller and have thinner flesh, so they are rarely eaten, but the birds love them! There are at least 400 varieties of edible date palms around the world, but only a few dozen are grown commercially. Other date palms make great landscape trees with a lovely tropical feel. Species that grow from as little as 3 ft to as much as 85 ft tall are available. Let’s look at the identifying characteristics of date palms and examine some of the different types of date palm trees available around the world. Contents show. Guide to Date Palm Varieties – 8 Types and Their Key Characteristics. 1. True Date Palm – Phoenix dactylifera. Images by Lyrae Willis, Own Work, and Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 – Combined by Lyrae Willis for Tree Vitalize. True Date Palm is the only species that is used for the commercial production of fruits (dates). While other species can be eaten, none are as large, sweet, and delicious as these types of dates. This tree has been cultivated for many thousands of years, and hundreds of cultivars are now available worldwide. The exact origin of the tree is unknown, but it is thought to be from Persia or northern Africa. A tree takes about 10 years to begin producing fruit and will produce up to 150 – 300 lbs of dates from a female tree in one season. Since they are dioecious trees with separate male and female trees, at least one of each tree is needed for fruit production. It is relatively cold hardy, drought tolerant, and tolerates dry, inland desert heat better than other date trees. Trees are susceptible to Fusarium infections which can be lethal. Identifying Features of the True Date Palm. Date Palm is usually a single-trunk tree, but multi-stemmed specimens occur naturally, although the suckers are typically removed when grown commercially. It is a medium-sized tree, shorter than the Canary Island Date Palm, with a smaller crown of leaves that are more gray-green or sometimes blue-green in color (especially in hot climates). Leaves are feather-like, pinnately divided, with induplicate leaf segments, and armed with leaf-like spines near the base. The trunk typically has a knobby appearance from the diamond-shaped leaf scars left behind after pruning. It is a dioecious tree, requiring a male and a female tree in order to produce fruits. Female flowers are greenish in pendulous inflorescences up to 4 ft long. Male flowers are larger, rounded, more whitish, and in shorter inflorescences to 0.8 ft long. Fruits are cylindrical drupes 1 – 2” long, fleshy, yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, sweet, and edible. Other Common Names: Date Palm, True Date. Native Area: Uncertain due to early cultivation, but thought to be North Africa and/or the Middle East. USDA Growing Zones: 9 – 11. Average Size at Maturity: 30 – 40 ft tall, 10 – 20 ft spread. 2. Barhi Date Palm – Phoenix dactylifera ‘Barhi’ Barhi Date Palms are also called Honey Date Palm because of their fruits’ sweet flavor and honey-like color. Their fruits are mostly eaten fresh and can be eaten at any stage of ripeness, with different flavors at each stage. They are said to taste like fresh sugar cane (semi-ripe), coconut (fully ripe), and then butterscotch (dried). The photo above shows the semi-ripe stage, where they are crunchy with mild sweetness and some astringency. Barhi Date Palms are grown for fruit production as well as for ornamental trees. They can be grown in tropical, subtropical, desert, or Mediterranean climates in USDA zones 8 – 11. Best grown in full sun in well-drained soil with a neutral pH. Identifying Features of the Barhi Date Palm. Barhi Date Palm is a shorter palm than Phoenix dactylifera , typically never growing more than 30 ft tall. Trunks are patterned with the type species’ characteristic knobby diamond-shaped leaf scarring. The evergreen crown of leaves is a dense and rich green. The leaves are pinnately divided with induplicate leaf segments. The petioles are armed with leaf-like spines located below the leaf segments. This date variety can be identified by dates that are shorter and a bit rounder than Medjool and more golden than brown. Other Common Names: Barhee Date Palm, Honey Date Palm, Banshee Date Palm. Origin: Cultivar from southern Iraq, named after the city of Barhi, where it came from. USDA Growing Zones: 8 – 11. Average Size at Maturity: 15 – 30 ft tall, 10 – 12 ft spread. 3. Deglet Noor Date Palm – Phoenix dactylifera ‘Deglet Noor’ Deglet Noor Date Palm is one of the most commonly grown date palms in the US for its high quality fruit production and its ornamental value. It is an old cultivar that originated back in the 1600s in the Algerian Sahara. Once mature, it can produce 200 – 300 lbs of fruits per season on a female tree. These types of dates are great for eating and cooking with because they are semi-dry and easier to cut and dice than softer Medjool varieties. The trees are dioecious, so a male and a female tree are needed for fruit production. It is a medium to tall palm tree growing 40 – 80 ft tall with a dense canopy of rich green feather-like leaves. Best grown in full sun in well-drained, deep, neutral, sandy loam soil. It is intolerant of wet soils or acidic soils. It is a hybrid between the True Date Palm and the Cretan Date Palm.
date nut palm tree
date palm nut
date nut palm