'Methuselah' Palm Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seed Is a Father
Ten years after sprouting from an ancient seed, the date palm is "a big boy now," a scientist says—"and yeah, he can make dates."
A male date palm tree named Methuselah that sprouted from a 2,000-year-old seed nearly a decade ago is thriving today, according to the Israeli researcher who is cultivating the historic plant.
The plant was sprouted in a laboratory in 2005, and when a National Geographic news story about the event resurfaced this week on the social media website Reddit, we decided to check in on Methuselah and see how it's doing. (See our 2005 story: “2,000-Year-Old Seed Sprouts, Sapling Is Thriving.”)
"He is a big boy now," says Elaine Solowey, the director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura in Israel.
"He is over three meters [ten feet] tall, he's got a few offshoots, he has flowers, and
