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
The Sect of the Phoenix intercourse in adulthood with at least a man. Borges added: “what a horror when the next day I was told that what that man did to me was an act of pederasty”; surely he was told thus by his authoritarian mother who treated Georgie as an underage boy all her life. In 'Borges beyond interpretations...' Anders Johansson questioned Balderton's interpretation thus: “... the latter passage in particular does not harmonize with Balderston’s idea that the sect of the Phoenix is constituted by ”‘male bonding,’ anal penetration” . How would cork, wax, gum Arabic or silt fit into that interpretation?” Johansson's