A Long-Lost Legendary Roman Fruit Tree Has Been Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds

Scientists have cultivated plants from date palm seeds that languished in ancient ruins and caves for 2,000 years.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

A Long-Lost Legendary Roman Fruit Tree Has Been Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds

Scientists have cultivated plants from date palm seeds that languished in ancient ruins and caves for 2,000 years.

more…

> 6 of 32 seeds germinated. “They collected fragments of the seed shells still clinging to the roots of the plants. These were perfect for radiocarbon dating – which confirmed the seeds date back to between 1,800 and 2,400 years ago.”

Good.

> the researchers found that the ancient seeds were up to 30 percent larger than date seeds today

That makes sense. Plant breeding tends to reduce seed size. Extra genetic diversity from these ancient seeds could improve current date plant cultivars,

See also https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/2/120221-oldest-seeds-regenerated-plants-science/ for 32,000 year old plant seeds brought back to life.

“A Russian team discovered a seed cache of Silene stenophylla, a flowering plant native to Siberia, that had been buried by an Ice Age squirrel near the banks of the Kolyma River (map). Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the seeds were 32,000 years old.”

See also http://artdiamondblog.com/archives/2008/08/sprouted_methus.html

“One of a handful of 2,000-year-old seeds from the fortress of Masada in present-day Israel grew into a date palm plant called Methuselah in 2005.”