Enquiry into Plants/Volume 1/Chapter 25

by Theophrastus

Of the propagation of the date-palm; of palms in general.

VI. ^[1]The method of propagating date-palms is peculiar and exceptional, as also is their subsequent cultivation. They plant several seeds together, putting two below and two above, which are fastened on; but all face downwards.^[2] For germination starts not, as some say, from the 'reverse' or hollow side,^[3] but from the part^[4] which is uppermost; wherefore in joining on the seeds which are placed above one must not cover up the points from which the growth is to come; and these can be recognised by experts. And the reason why they set several together is that a plant that grows from one only is weak. The roots which grow from these seeds become entangled together and so do the first shoots from the very start, so that they combine to make a single stem.

Such is the method of growing from the fruits. But propagation is also possible from the tree itself, by taking off the top, which contains the 'head.'^[5] They take off about two cubits' length, and, splitting it, set the moist end.^[6] It likes a soil which contains salt^[7]; wherefore, where such soil is not available, the growers sprinkle salt about it; and this must not be done about the actual roots: one must keep the salt some way off and sprinkle about a gallon. To shew that it seeks such a soil they offer the following proof; wherever date-palms grow abundantly, the soil is salt,^[8] both in Babylon, they say, where the tree is indigenous, in Libya in Egypt and in Phoenicia; while in Coele-Syria, where are^[9] most palms, only in three districts, they say, where the soil is salt, are dates produced which can be stored; those that grow in other districts do not keep, but rot, though when fresh they are sweet and men use^[10] them at that stage.

^[11]The tree is likewise very fond of irrigation; as to dung there is a difference of opinion: some say that the date-palm does not like it, but that it is most injurious, others that it gladly accepts^[12] it and makes good growth thereby, but plenty of water should be given, after manuring, as the Rhodians use. This then is matter for enquiry; it may be that there are two distinct methods of cultivation, and that dung, if accompanied by watering,^[13] is beneficial, though without it it is harmful. ^[14]When the tree is a year old, they transplant it and give plenty^[15] of salt, and this treatment is repeated when it is two years old, for it delights greatly in being transplanted.

^[16]Most transplant in the spring, but the people of Babylon about the rising of the dog-star, and this is the time when most people propagate it, since it then germinates and grows more quickly. As long as it is young, they do not touch it, except that they tie up the foliage, so that it may grow straight^[17] and the slender branches may not hang down.^[18] At a later stage they prune it, when it is more vigorous and has become a stout tree, leaving the slender branches only about a handsbreadth long. So long as it is young, it produces its fruit without a stone, but later on the fruit has a stone.

However some say that the people of Syria use no cultivation, except cutting out wood and watering, also that the date-palm requires spring water rather than water from the skies and that such water is abundant in the valley in which are the palm-groves. And they add that the Syrians say that this valley^[19] extends through Arabia to the Red Sea,^[20] and that many profess to have visited it,^[21] and that it is in the lowest part of it that the date-palms grow. Now both accounts may be true, for it is not strange that in different soils the methods of cultivation should differ, like the trees themselves.

^[22]There are several kinds of palm. To begin with, to take first the most important difference;—some are fruitful and some not; and it is from this latter kind that the people of Babylon make their beds and other furniture. Again of the fruitful trees some are 'male,' others 'female'; and these differ from one another in that the 'male' first^[23] bears a flower on the spathe, while the 'female' at once bears a small fruit. Again there are various differences in the fruits themselves; some have no stones, others soft stones; as to colour, some are white, some black, some yellow and in general they say that there is not less variety of colour and even of kind than in figs; also that they differ in size and shape, some being round like apples and of such a size that four of them make up a cubit^[24] in length, …^[25] while others are small,^[26] no bigger than chick-peas; and that there is also much difference in flavour.

The best kind alike in size and in quality, whether of the white or black variety, is that which in either form is called 'the royal palm'; but this, they say, is rare; it grows hardly anywhere except in the park of the ancient Bagoas,^[27] near Babylon. In Cyprus^[28] there is a peculiar kind of palm which does not ripen its fruit, though, when it is unripe, it is very sweet and luscious, and this lusciousness is of a peculiar kind. Some palms again^[29] differ not merely in their fruits but in the character of the tree itself as to stature and general shape; for instead of being large and tall they are low growing; but these are more fruitful than the others, and they begin to bear as soon as they are three years old; this kind too is common in Cyprus. Again in Syria and Egypt there are palms which bear when they are four or five years old, at which age they are the height of a man.

There is yet another kind in Cyprus, which has broader leaves and a much larger fruit of peculiar shape; in size it is as large as a pomegranate, in shape it is long; it is not however juicy like others, but like^[30] a pomegranate, so that men do not swallow it, but chew it and then spit it out. Thus, as has been said, there are many kinds. The only dates that will keep, they say, are those which grow in the Valley^[31] of Syria, while those that grow in Egypt Cyprus and elsewhere are used when fresh.

The palm, speaking generally, has a single and a single and simple stem; however there are some with two stems, as in Egypt,^[32] which make a fork, as it were; the length of the stem up to the point where it divides is as much as five cubits, and the two branches of the fork are about equal in length. They say that the palms in Crete more often than not have this double stem, and that some of them have three stems and that in Lapaia one with five heads has been known. It is after all not surprising^[33] that in more fertile soils such instances should be commoner, and in general that more kinds and more variation should be found under such conditions.

^[34]There is another kind which is said to be abundant in Ethiopia, called the doum-palm^[35]; this is a shrubby tree, not having a single stem but several, which sometimes are joined together up to a certain point^[36]; and the leaf-stalks are not long,^[37] only the length of a cubit, but they are plain,^[38] and the leafage is borne only at the tip. The leaf is broad and, as it were, made up of at least^[39] two leaflets. This tree is fair to look upon, and its fruit in shape size and flavour differs from the date, being rounder larger and pleasanter to the taste, though not so luscious. It ripens in three years, so that there is always fruit on the tree, as the new fruit overtakes that of last year. And they make bread out of it. The reports then call for enquiry.

^[40]The dwarf-palm, as it is called, is a distinct kind, having nothing but its name^[41] in common with other palms. For if the head is removed, it survives, and, if it is cut down, it shoots again from the roots. It differs too in the fruit and leaves; for the leaf is broad and flexible, and so they weave their baskets and mats out of it. It is common in Crete and still more so in Sicily.^[42] However in these matters we have said more than our purpose required.

1. Plin. 13. 32.
2. i.e. with the grooved side downwards.
3. i.e. the grooved side.
4. i.e. the round side.
5. i.e cabbage
6. τοῦτο … ὑγρόν: I have inserted δὲ, otherwise retaining the reading of Ald.; τούτου κάτω´ τιθέασι δ᾽ ἔνυγρον conj. W. cf. Plin. 13. 36. τὸ ὑγρόν, viz. the cut end.
7. ἁλμώδη conj. W.; ἀμμώδη P₂Ald.H.
8. ἁλμώδεις conj. W.; ἀμμώδεις Ald.H.
9. ἐν ᾗ γ᾽ οἱ conj. W.; ἵν᾽ Ἴνδοι U; ἣν Ἴνδοι MVAld.
10. καταναλίσκειν Ald.; καταναλίσκεσθαι conj. W.
11. Plin. 13. 28.
12. καὶ χρῆσθαι conj. Sch.; κεχρῆσθαι Ald.; ? κεχάρησθαι.
13. cf. 7. 5. 1.
14. Plin. 13. 37.
15. συμπαραβάλλουσι conj. Sch. from G; συμπαραμβάνουσι U. Ald.
16. cf. Plin. 13. 38.
17. ὀρθοφυῆ τ᾽ ᾖ conj. W.; ὀρθοφύηται P₂Ald.
18. ἀπαρτῶνται conj. R. Const.; ἀπορθῶνται P₂M Ald.
19. cf. Diod. 3. 41.
20. i.e. the Arabian Gulf.
21. ἐληλυθέναι Ald.; διελυθέναι conj. W.
22. Plin. 13. 39.
23. πρῶτον conj. Sch,; πρῶτος UMVAld.
24. πῆχυν conj. R. Const. from Plin. 13. 45. and G, cf. Diod. 2. 53; στάχυν UMVAld.
25. ἕπτα καὶ εὐπόδους UMV: the words perhaps conceal a gloss on πῆχυν, e.g. εἷς πῆχυς δύο πόδες (Salm.); om. G; ἐνίοτε καὶ ἐπὶ πόδα conj. W.
26. Plin. 13. 42.
27. Βαγῴου: Βάττου MSS. corr. by R. Const. from Plin. 13. 41. τοῦ παλαίου apparently distinguishes this Bagoas from some more recent wearer of the name.
28. Plin. 13. 33.
29. Plin. 13. 28.
30. ὅμοιος conj. Bod.; ὁμοίως UMVAld.
31. cf. § 5.
32. Plin. 13. 38; cf. 4. 2. 7, where the name (κουιόφορον) of this tree is given.
33. οὐκ ἄλογον γοῦν coj. W. (οὐκ ἄλογον δ᾽ Sch.); οὐ καλῶς γοῦν Ald.MU (marked doubtful).
34. Plin. 13. 47.
35. κόϊκας conj. Salm. cf. 1. 20. 5, and the probable reading in Plin. l.c.
36. συνηρτημένα μέχρι τινὸς εἰς ἕν conj. W.; συνηρτημένας μὲν εἰς ἕν U; συνηρτημένα μέχρι τινός εἰσι Ald.; συνηρτημένας μὲν μέχρι τινὸς εἶεν MV.
37. μὲν ins. W. after Sch. (omitted above).
38. i.e. without leaflets, except at the tip.
39. ἐλαχίστοιν Bas.; ἐλαχίστων U. cf. Arist. Eth. N. 5. 3. 3, ἐν ἐλαχίστοις δυαίν.
40. Plin. 13. 39.
41. For ὁμώνυμον cf. 9. 10. 1 n.
42. A dwarf palm is now abundant at Selinunte: cf. Verg. Aen. 3. 705, palmosa Selinus.

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