- Common name:
- Date Palm, Edible Date Palm
- Regional name:
- Marathi - Khajur
- Category:
- ,,
- Family:
- Light:
- Sun growing
- Water:
- Normal, Can tolerate less
- Primarily grown for:
- Foliage
- Flowering season:
- February, March, Flowers are inconspicuous
- Flower or Inflorescence color:
- Orange, White
- Foliage color:
- Blue Grey or Silver, Green
- Plant Height or length:
- More than 12 meters
- Plant Spread or Width:
- 6 to 8 meters
- Plant Form:
- Spreading, Upright or Erect
- Special Character:
-
- Auspicious or Feng Shui plant
- Suitable for road median planting
- Suitable for avenue planting
- Salt or salinity tolerant
- Good on seaside
- Generally available in India in quantities of:
- Over hundreds
-
Plant Description:
- - Probably the most important palm after the coconut and Oil palm.
- Grows throughout the Middle East, West Asia and Northern Africa.
- Is a desert plant - which requires wet feet and a dry and warm head.
- One problem why the date palm is not grown everywhere is that - it requires dry weather during fruit development which happens in June - July - August.
- Plants grow well everywhere. It is only the fruiting that has problems.
- As all phoenix go this one too is very hardy.
- Mature trunks grow to 90 ft, 18 inch in diameter.
- The leaves are 10-20 ft long, stiff and slightly arching.
- The leaf crown is 20 ft tall and wide.
- The inflorescences are 4 ft long & grow from among the leaves.
- The fruits 1-3 inches long very sweet, edible fruits.
- Male and female plants are seperate. Only the female plants bear fruit.
- Date palms often sucker. They may sucker profusely, sucker less or not sucker at all. There is considrable variation. -
Growing tips:
- - Plants grow well in areas with a hot dry climate.
- Tolerate full exposure and sprays of salt iaden winds.
- The date palm is hardy to cold and can tolerate near freezing temperatures.
- It is used widely for landscaping throughout the Middle East.
