Phoenix theophrasti ancient Greek ‘father of botany,’ had described several types of palms, including one from Crete. Apart from the usually inedible dates and upright fruit clusters, the Cretan species can appear quite similar to the cultivated date ("Phoenix dactylifera"). "Phoenix theophrasti" grows up to 15 m tall, usually with several slender stems. The leaves are pinnate, 2–3 m long, with numerous rigid greyish-green linear leaflets 15–50 cm long on each side of the central rachis. Dead leaves are marcescent, remaining attached to the stem for years after withering. The fruit is an oval yellowish-brown drupe 1.5 cm long and 1 cm
Tree of 40 Fruit Tree of 40 Fruit A Tree of 40 Fruit is one of a series of fruit trees created by the New York-based artist Sam Van Aken using the technique of grafting. Each tree produces forty types of stone fruit, of the genus "Prunus", ripening sequentially from July to October in the United States. Sam Van Aken is an Associate Professor of Sculpture at Syracuse University. His family is Pennsylvania Dutch, and he grew up on the family farm. In 2008, while looking for specimens to create a multicolored blossom tree as an art project, Van Aken acquired the orchard of