2000-Year-Old Judean Date Tree Seed Sprouts

Makarand writes "A date palm seed found during archaeological excavations at King Herod's palace on Mount Masada, near the Dead Sea, and whose age was confirmed to be 2000 years by carbon dating techniques has sprouted into a young tree.This historic seedling which sprouted 4 weeks after planting has grown six leaves and one has been removed for DNA tests. Scientists hope that the unique seedling will eventually yield vital clues to the medicinal properties of the fruit of the Judean date tree chronicled in the Bible and the Quran and which was long thought to be extinct."

Comments

Re:jurassic park anyone?

[CableModemSniper]

Yes, any second now the date tree is going to escape its pen and go on a murderous rampage. It will also change genders in order to breed with itself and produce more deadly date trees.

Does this remind anyone else of the Lorax?

[I(rispee_I(reme]

"It's a Truffula Seed.
It's the last one of all!
You're in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.
And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.
Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.
Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back."
-Dr Seuss

At last!

[mister_llah]

Now they can discover the secret to death of old age at age 35!

Yessss!

plant has a sense of humor

[moosesocks]

God, it would seem has a sense of humor.

From TFA:
"The Judean date is chronicled in the Bible, Quran and ancient literature for its diverse powers -- from an aphrodisiac to a contraceptive"

Re:plant has a sense of humor

[idiot900]

An aphrodisiac and a contraceptive? It would seem more like God has a sense of BEING AWESOME.

Extinct species = pure hype?

[RobotWisdom]

How come I can't find any reference on the Web to this supposedly extinct species? Could it be that the discoverers wanted to make a plain old ordinary 2000yo date-pit sound more glamorous?