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
Fruit tree pollination for apple trees, although members of the genera "Andrena", "Bombus", "Halictus", and "Osmia" pollinate apple trees in the wild. Solitary bees such as ground-nesting mining bees ("Andrena") may play a far bigger role in pollination than at one time suspected. Bumble bees are sometimes present in orchards, but not usually in enough quantity to be significant pollinators; in the home garden with only a few trees, their role may be much greater. Increasingly Orchard bees (spring mason bees) are being used in fruit tree pollination. According to British writer Christopher O'Toole in his book "The Red Mason Bee", "Osmia rufa"