The Cretan Date Palm: National Symbol of Hellenic rare Flora.
The Cretan Date Palm(Phoenix theophrasti) is a smallpalm native to the easternMediterranean region, with a very restricted distribution confined in southern Greece to a few sites as in Crete island and especially inVai at the Lasithi Prefecture. These are found in other Greek places too and especially inAmorgos island in four sites, inAnafi island there is a core on a beach at the south coast and recently have been found the last 10 palm trees of an ancient palm forest in Epidaurus area in Peloponnese and it is the only natural Phoenix theophrasti growing in mainland Greece. For this reason, it is said that in Ancient Greece there were many palm forests growing from Crete to Thebes and from the Peloponnese to Delos.
A small population is also located at Datca Penninsula (Turkey).
In honor of the father of Botany, Theophrastus, Dr. Werner Greuter gave this name to this palm. Theophrastus was the first who named that palm as Cretan Date Palm in opposition with Phoenix dactylifera (Date Palm).
After the research in terms of PhD thesis of Dr. Oscar Dembillo (Univ. of Valencia), it is proven that Cretan Date Palm is 67% RPW resistant…
It grows to 15 m tall, usually with several slender stems. Great for coastal areas with lowest temperatures -5 degrees Celsius, sandy soil, next to rivers or in the sea!
AUTHOR
Nikos Thymakis
Landscape Manager
MSc Agronomist
Natural Resoursces Management
Chair Person of Greek Palm Society
Author of Phoenix theophrasti in RED DATA BOOK, Univ. of Patras, 2009
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