A Mate for Methuselah!

Many readers of The Triumph of Seeds have wondered about the fate of Methuselah, the lonely male Judaean date palm germinated from a 2,000-year-old seed unearthed in Israel.  After years of effort, Sarah Sallon, Elaine Solowey and their colleagues have just announced the germination and establishment of six more ancient date palms, including two females!  When those female trees flower, perhaps this year or next, pollen from Methuselah will be used to begin fully recovering this famous and long lost date variety.  Read their paper here, and a nice news article about the project here.