خرما

Commonly known as the Date Palm, is a palm, extensively cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Due to its long history of cultivation for fruit, its exact native distribution is unknown, but probably originated around thePersian Gulf, and has been cultivated since ancient times fromMesopotamia to prehistoric Egypt, possibly as early as 6000 BC. In later times, Arabs spread dates around northern Africa and into Spain.It is a medium-sized tree, 15-25 m tall, often clumped with several trunks from a single root system, but often growing singly as well. The leaves are pinnate, 3-5 m long, with spines on the petiole and about 150 leaflets; the leaflets are 30 cm long and 2 cm broad. The full span of the crown ranges from 6-10 meters.