A group of scientists, led by Sara living room from the Medical organization Hadassah in Israel made the first steps towards the revival of the legendary “Roman fruit”. We are talking about the Judean date palm, the most important fruit culture of Ancient Rome, which was completely lost after the fall of the Empire. Now, using seeds older than 2000 years, Israeli biologists managed to get the new sprouts of the plant, praised the works of ancient historians.
Some of the seeds were found in the cellars of the fortress of Herod the Great, the other is in the caves between the Judean hills and the Dead sea. Out of hundreds of seeds of promising recognized only 34, one left to control, another rejected in the process. Of the 32 seeds, soaked in water and fertilizers, germinated only six that have received own names: Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith, Hannah and Adam.
The experiment began with the fact that scientists have collected fragments of seed shells and with the help of radiocarbon Dating confirmed the age of the seeds: 1,8-2,4 thousand years. While the sprouts are small and before the fruit is still far away, watching them carefully and take samples for study of the genetic code. The fact that this legendary fruit has made this selection, which originally held the Jews, and then secured the Roman gardeners. But its details are lost, and scientists need to conduct extensive work to compare the genome of ancient plants with other types of date palms.
Pliny the Elder, Strabo and Herodotus describe “Roman fruit” as large, very sweet and long non-perishable fruit – so much so that it could deliver on carts all over the vast Empire. Indeed, the seeds found 30% larger than modern, and the fact that they have sprouted after all this time, indicates the viability of the plant. Now scientists are looking forward to when the ancient trees will provide first fruits is sure to bring amazing new discoveries.
Source — Washington Post