Guy Eisner / Courtesy of Science Magazine
The resurrected Methuselah, shown at age 26 months when it had reached a height of about four feet, is named after the oldest person in the Bible.
Posted on 06/12/2008 5:51:19 PM PDT by blam
Tree from 2,000-year-old seed is doing well
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID , AP Science Writer
June 12, 2008
(AP) -- Just over three years old and about four-feet tall, Methuselah is growing well. "It's lovely," Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm, whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2,000 years ago.
The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers.
Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn't sprout, indicate they were about 2,000 years old - the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown.
Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
One thing they don't know yet is whether it's a boy or girl. Date palms differ by sex, but experts can't tell the difference until the tree is six or seven years old, Sallon said.
She hopes there's a chance to use it to restore the extinct Judean date palm, once prized not only for its fruit but also for medicinal uses.
The researchers have had a look at the plant's DNA, however, and found it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars.
"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants were used," Sallon said in a telephone interview. "To domesticate them so we have a ready source of raw material."
Her Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project is working to conserve and reintroduce plants to the region where they once lived.
"Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead is very difficult, so it's better to preserve them before they become extinct," she said.
The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a 1,300-year-old lotus, Sallon said.
GGG Ping.
Tell it a joke.
If he laughs it's a male.
But if she laughs it's a female.
Guy Eisner / Courtesy of Science Magazine
The resurrected Methuselah, shown at age 26 months when it had reached a height of about four feet, is named after the oldest person in the Bible.
One of a handful of 2,000-year-old seeds (top) from the fortress of Masada in present-day Israel grew into a date palm plant (bottom) called Methuselah in 2005. A study released in June 2008 confirms the plant is the oldest sprouted seed in the world. Photos by Guy Eisner/Courtesy of Science Magazine
Life always finds a way.
Nice post.
Thanks.
I lived in Israel for two years and visited Masada in 2006 - incredible place and with the dead sea just up the road.... Imagine looking down from Masada upon the actual squares that were occupied by the Roman Legions, still and a silent tribute to those for whom, Never Again, is a slogan and national pledge.
“and found it shares just over half its genes with modern date cultivars.”
Which half?
Quite cool.
Must have been a moving experience.
All the seeds from that planet wil be worth more than the dates.. I can see it now.. groves of date palms from that little tree.. Growing dates under the MASADA brand name..
If it does produce seeds I wonder if it’d be possible to get some. I’d like to try and grow a few plants to help spread out the species so they aren’t all located in one area.
Cool..
Fascinating
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Masada is awesome...
gardening ping.
Maybe the Cabinet should eat a few of the dates produced by this tree and meditate on the future of the State...
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