Martin Lemelman is the author/illustrator of “The Miracle Seed” and uses a style similar to comic books to tell his story. The Judean date palm, a cultivar of Phoenix dactylifera, was an important tree for its sweet fruit, medicinal properties, and cultural significance to the Jewish people. Following the bloody put-down of Jewish revolt between 66-74 CE, many of the groves were destroyed by the Romans. In the centuries that followed, a combination of factors led to the tree’s extinction.
In 1963, archaeological excavations in last, first-century Jewish holdout at Masada found a jar with six seeds of the Judean date palms. “The Miracle Seed” tells the story of the two women scientists who very carefully coaxed some of these seeds to germinate 2,000 years after they were harvested.
The first planting was on Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year of Trees in 2005. It wasn’t until six years later that one successful seedling was large enough to flower, revealing it was a male plant of this dioecious species. In the meantime, a few other seeds were found at other archaeological sites.
From these seeds, the first female Judea date palm flowered in 2020. Later that year, with pollen from the original plant (appropriately named “Methuselah”), the first fruit in two millennia was harvested and an extinct plant was brought back to life!
Excerpted from Brian Thompson’s article in the Summer 2023 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin