Palm: Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera
FAMILY: ARECACEAE (Palm Family)
Leading you the Safari Park's entrance and onward into Nairobi Village are stately date palms, Old World trees with exotic charm. Palms are one of the oldest known crops, cultivated in western Asia and northern Africa more than 5,000 years ago for their sugary fruit and still commercially grown in Iraq, North Africa, and the United States today.
The date palm has long been condiered the tree of life in desert cultures and is associated with fertility and fecundity. Perhaps that reputation, along with its association with paradise in many a travel brochure and postcard, is part of the reason it is now grown as an ornamental tree worldwide.