Species
+

Phoenix dactylifera L.

Antendri be, Date, Date Tree, Date palm

Climate known 59 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the region from the Gulf States and Iraq to Pakistan. It is cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South and Southeast Asia, the coastal Mediterranean basin, and Southern California. It is naturalised in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Date palm”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

Family
Arecaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Iran, Iraq, Gulf States +3
Wild records
188 in range· 21 open

At a glance

Warmest month
37°C
Jul, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
123mm/yr
3 wet months · peak Jan 26 mm (CHELSA)
Light
22–50DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a winter growing season, December to March in the northern hemisphere (December to March at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 123 mm a year, wettest January at 26 mm, driest June at 0 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 50 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 4.5 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Encephalartos pungens (L.f. ex Aiton) Lehm.; Macrozamia tridentata var. pungens J.Schust.; Palma dactylifera (L.) Mill.; Palma major Garsault; Phoenix atlantica var. maroccana A.Chev. and 16 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, December to March in the northern hemisphere (December to March at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (98 mm of 123 mm) falls in December to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 15.8 °C against a yearly mean of 23.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 123 mm a year, wettest January at 26 mm, driest June at 0 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

123 mm a year at the habitat, 98 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 26 mm, driest June at 0 mm; 6 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 38 mm to 610 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 50 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12 °C (archetype minimum for a tropical foliage plant, above the 4.5 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 4.5 °C, the absolute minimum -0.1 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 43.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 9.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells 5.2 °C to 16.2 °C), warmest day 36.5 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 4.5 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a tropical foliage plant (grouped by Arecaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant) is 12 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 46 to 54% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 18 °C in Jan to 37 °C in Jul; mean night from 10 °C in Jan to 26 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 123 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 134 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 43.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost43.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 22–50RH 46–54 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 134 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 15–2420 / 16–2524 / 19–2929 / 23–3433 / 27–4036 / 29–4237 / 30–4336 / 30–4334 / 29–4031 / 27–3625 / 21–2920 / 17–26
Night °C10 / 5–1610 / 6–1713 / 9–1917 / 12–2222 / 15–2624 / 18–2925 / 20–3126 / 20–3124 / 19–2821 / 16–2516 / 11–2212 / 7–18
Rain mm26 / 6–12826 / 4–11326 / 5–629 / 2–182 / 1–70 / 0–50 / 0–60 / 0–60 / 0–24 / 1–2310 / 2–7020 / 5–101
DLI23 / 20–2930 / 25–3537 / 34–4145 / 42–4749 / 47–5050 / 47–5249 / 42–5147 / 41–4841 / 38–4233 / 29–3726 / 23–3122 / 19–27
RH %54 / 50–5854 / 48–5751 / 45–5747 / 41–5546 / 36–5647 / 33–5949 / 33–6150 / 34–6251 / 36–6051 / 40–5952 / 47–5654 / 50–58

Each figure is the median across the 134 grid cells holding the 181 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1179:4306 (31.025, 35.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 43.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 134 distinct grid cells holding the 181 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1179:4306 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 31.00_35.625, lapse-corrected -553 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 44 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeIran, Iraq, Gulf States, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan· introduced: Great Britain, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Benin, Gambia, The, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Central African Republic, Gulf of Guinea Is., Chad, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan, Mauritius, Mozambique Channel Is., Réunion, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Palestine, Sinai, Turkey, China South-Central, China Southeast, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, California, Mexico Northwest, El Salvador, Cayman Is., Dominican Republic, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Bolivia
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker30.602, 35.545 · in the densest population, 89 records (47% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 188 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 21 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 38 km away. 1106 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 7 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 188 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Phoenix dactyliferaPhoenix dactyliferaPhoenix dactyliferaPhoenix dactyliferaPhoenix dactyliferaPhoenix dactyliferaPhoenix dactyliferaPhoenix dactylifera

Photographs: (c) Mehdi Chetibi, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Riccardo Rocca, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Sula Vanderplank, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Sue Carnahan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Phoenix dactylifera, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

The fruit of the date palm: its possible use as the best food for the future?
Walid Al‐Shahib, Richard J. Marshall (2003) · International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition
Nutritional and Functional Properties of Dates: A Review
Mohamed Al-Farsi, Chang Yong Lee (2008) · Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
The Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.): Overview of Biology, Uses, and Cultivation
Chih-Cheng T. Chao, Robert R. Krueger (2007) · HortScience
Phenolic profile and antioxidant activity of the Algerian ripe date palm fruit (Phoenix dactylifera)
Abdelhak Mansouri, Guendez Embarek, Eugene Kokkalou, Panagiotis Kefalas (2004) · Food Chemistry
Comparison of Antioxidant Activity, Anthocyanins, Carotenoids, and Phenolics of Three Native Fresh and Sun-Dried Date ( Phoenix dactylifera L.) Varieties Grown in Oman
Mohamed Al-Farsi, Cesarettin Alasalvar, A. A. Morris, Mark Baron (2005) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Antioxidant activity and phenolic content of various date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) fruits from Iran
Foroogh Biglari, Abbas F.M. Alkarkhi, Azhar Mat Easa (2007) · Food Chemistry
A review of the chemistry and pharmacology of the date fruits (Phoenix dactylifera L.)
Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga, Bantwal Raghavendra Vittaldas Baliga, Shaun M. Kandathil, Harshith P. Bhat (2010) · Food Research International
De novo genome sequencing and comparative genomics of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera)
Eman Al‐Dous, Binu George, Maryam E. Al‐Mahmoud, Moneera Y Al-Jaber (2011) · Nature Biotechnology
Antimicrobial and anticancer activities of silver nanoparticles synthesized from the root hair extract of Phoenix dactylifera
Mohammad Oves, M. Aslam, Mohd Ahmar Rauf, Shariq Qayyum (2018) · Materials Science and Engineering C
The Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequence of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)
Meng Yang, Xiaowei Zhang, Guiming Liu, Yuxin Yin (2010) · PLoS ONE
Date fruit ( Phoenix dactylifera L.): An underutilized food seeking industrial valorization
Sami Ghnimi, Syed Umer, Azharul Karim, Afaf Kamal‐Eldin (2016) · NFS Journal

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Phoenix 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 110 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.