"Methuselah" Palm Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seed Is a Father

[Garland-Green]

Ten years after sprouting from an ancient seed, the date palm is "a big boy now," a scientist says—"and yeah, he can make dates."

By John Roach, National Geographic

PUBLISHED MARCH 24, 2015

Excerpt; Genetic tests indicate that Methuselah is most closely related to an ancient variety of date palm from Egypt known as Hayany, which fits with a legend that says dates came to Israel with the children of the Exodus, Solowey says.

Continue reading.  

[Lady Vizsla]

Quote:

is most closely related to an ancient variety of date palm from Egypt known as Hayany, which fits with a legend that says dates came to Israel with the children of the Exodus

This is an interesting read. I like studies that dip into biblical history.  

[cristobela]

edited

Plant reproduction is a subject that school doesn't teach much about. Just one short chapter in my biology classes. It wasn't until I saw some random post on pinterest earlier this year, about kiwi plants and how to grow them, that I was reminded that "male" and "female" sexes exists in plants too. All I had remembered, up until that time, was that certain flowers have both male and female parts (I just googled, apparently they're called "perfect" / "complete", whereas the single-sexed plants are called "incomplete" / "imperfect"). I wonder, however, how plants were in the beginning (everything was single sexed? and then some became more than one sex as a result of the curse [akin to what happened to humans, due to genetic decay not preserving the distinctions with integrity]? or were some plants always "perfect" / "complete" / containing both male and female parts since the beginning, in addition to the existence of single-sex plants?).

And I'm curious because clearly the sin man commits is having an affect on nature (ever since Adam and Eve's sin, but even modern day sin): [Something in the Water is Feminizing Male Fish. Are We Next?] (making them intersex, meaning the males are physically developing some female sexual reproduction functions); [Male Frogs May Be Turning Female Thanks To Estrogen in Suburban Waste] (also, like the fish, finding eggs in the males / ergo intersex / hermaphrodite animals), [Rare Condition Causes Some Dominican Republic Girls to Become Boys at Puberty] (this last one I would say is a residual effect of the long time decay on our bodies / genetic make up, started by Adam and Eve's sin).

Side note: on the subject of plant reproduction, unlike what some secular websites seem to be insinuating (http://www.livescience.com/32261-do-plants-have-sex.html), I definitely would not try compare human sexuality to plants (or animals) to establish what "normal" is for us. Considering that male seahorses carry the babies (while human males don't carry babies, human females do). And some plants just reproduce asexually by cloning / breaking off a piece of itself and starting off a new plant altogether (whereas human reproduction is always sexual, needing both male and female involvement, always).

However, I'm sure there is something spiritual to be learned here, why God made plants this way (however it is that He made them in the beginning—single sexed, individual plants only or single sexed plants amongst many other kinds of plant-type of reproduction too [asexual/cloning type of reproduction or a plant being "perfect/complete" containing both sexual parts in one]). Perhaps, just like the husband and bride are a picture of Christ and the Church/assembly of believers, this illustrates that there is no completion/perfection until the two parts are together. question But what to make of the asexual plants: they can still spread, but are seedless / fruitless :L ??? (Ah, celibate people and eunuchs can still make disciples even though they bear no children)