Date palm 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 species of genus "Phoenix", which contains 12–19 species of wild date palms, and is the major
Niebla dactylifera collections be studied, especially of "Niebla" collected in California and the Channel Islands. Additional specimens were studied through loans obtained by the U.S. National Herbarium (Smithsonian Institution) from the University of Colorado at Boulder and from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. "Niebla dactylifera" was discovered among the borrowed specimens of "Niebla". Niebla dactylifera Niebla dactylifera is a fruticose lichen that grows only on San Nicolas Island in the Channel Islands of California. The epithet, "dactylifera", is in reference to the terminal finger-like branches. "Niebla dactylifera" is recognized by the thallus divided into tubular-prismatic branches that arise from a