Evaluation of Date Cultivars for Dessert Quality

Abstract

The date, Phoenix dactyliferaL., is one of the most ancient fruit crops used by man; records of its culture date back nearly 5,000 years. Hundreds of individual palms have had sufficiently favorable attributes to attract the attention of cultivators and have received names. Only a small number of these cultivars, perhaps less than 200, have been imported to this country, beginning about the turn of this century. These imports represent the cultivars most highly regarded by cultivators in the Old World and those selected by European horticulturists who visited and studied date cultivars throughout their range of cultivation. Many cultivars failed to live up to the reputations acquired in their homeland or had serious horticultural—and U.S.—market shortcomings.