Date palm of the Tabernacles. Palm branches were scattered before Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Date palm Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Although its place of origin is unknown because of long cultivation, it probably originated from the Fertile Crescent region straddling between Egypt and Mesopotamia. The species is widely cultivated across Northern Africa, The Middle East, The Horn of Africa and South Asia, and is naturalized in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. "P. dactylifera" is the type
Olive fruit fly Olive fruit fly The olive fruit fly ("Bactrocera oleae", "Dacus oleae") is a species of fruit fly which belongs to the subfamily Dacinae. It is a phytophagous species, whose larvae feed on the fruit of olive trees, hence the common name. It is considered a serious pest in the cultivation of olives. Until 1998, the fly had not been detected in the United States, and its range coincided with the range of the olive tree in the Eastern Hemisphere: northern, eastern and southern Africa, Southern Europe, Canary Islands, India, and western Asia. In the Western Hemisphere, it is currently restricted