Researchers Regrow 2000 Year Old Judean Date Palm

This is kind of neat. Let's hope that it's a female tree, and thus can bear fruit.

Researchers confirm age of "Methuselah" tree
Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:00pm EDT
By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM, June 12 (Reuters) - Israeli researchers who grew a sapling from a date seed found at the ancient fortress Masada said on Thursday the seed was about 2,000 years old and may help restore a species of biblical trees.

Carbon dating confirmed that the seed -- named Methuselah after the oldest person in the bible -- was the oldest ever brought back to life, Sarah Sallon, a researcher at the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, reported in the journal Science.

The seed came from the Judean date palm, a species that once flourished in the Jordan River Valley and has been extinct for centuries, Sallon said. It was one of a group discovered at Masada, a winter palace overlooking the Dead Sea built by King Herod in the 1st century BC.

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