Välimerentaateli – Phoenix dactylifera

Leaves are pinnate, 4-7 m long. Pinnae are glaucous, bluish green, 20-40 cm long, lower pinnae modified into stout spines on petiole. Inflorescence is axillary, much-branched, enclosed in a deciduous spathe. Male inflorescence is erect with 100-150 branches. Female inflorescence has much less branches and it becomes pendulous as fruits develop. Flowers are cream coloured (male) or whitish (female), have a cup-shaped 3-toothed calyx, 3 petals, and 6 stamens (rudimentary in female flowers). Female flowers have 3 ovaries, but only one develops into fruit. Fruit is cylindrical, 2.5-7.5 x 2.5 cm, yellow to reddish brown, ripening in 6 months, with fleshy pericarp containing 60-70% sugar. The fruit contains a single seed up to 2.5 cm long, deeply grooved, with very hard endosperm.