Date Palm

An old Arabic saying is ‘the uses of the date palm are as many as the days in a year’. The date palm, or nakhl, produces the date fruit; dates are considered as fruit, food, medicine, drink and sweetmeat.

Many fruits and fruit-bearing plants have been mentioned in the Qur’an, but it is the date palm that has the most references. The trees are also noted for providing shade and symbolising wisdom.

The fruit ripens through a range of colours, from greenish yellow to black. It is rounded to elongate, with a fleshy, sweet-tasting texture, and contains a single seed.

Native to the Arabian Peninsula, Phoenix dactylifera has been widely introduced and cultivated in many warm temperate and tropical regions of the world.

Sue Wickison's search for reference material of the date palm led her from date farms around Dubai to Liwa in the Empty Quarter of the UAE then to the remote mountain area of Jabel al Akhdar in Oman. Several varieties of dates were seen, but with advice from Abu Dhabi Farmer’s Services, the Ajwa Al Madinah date was chosen to be illustrated as it is the only date named in the Hadith. It is also said to have health properties that other varieties do not have.

Through contacts in Sharjah UAE, an Ajwa Al Madinah date palm was found and Sue travelled from New Zealand visiting it several times over a year to gather reference for the flowering and fruiting stages of the tree.

Grows at Kew in the Temperate House.

Completed painting size: 64x110cm
Fruit natural size, small immature leaves natural size
Watercolour on paper