Phoenix dactylifera (date palm).

Palms are rather amazing trees that have been used by humans for thousands of years. Palm trees are members of the palm family, Aracaceae (which comes from a local Indian word for a species of palm tree). The name palm tree, apparently comes from the word palm (as in palm of the hand); however, it is a bit more complicated than one might imagine. From what I have read (mainly in the OED), palm of the hand is derived from an Indo-European root word that also gave rise to the word plain (as in flat). Palm fronds used to be given to victors of various contests. They were placed in the hands of the winner and thus the term palm was transferred from the palm of the hand to the item placed in the palm.

That all sounds a little sketchy to me but I'll go with it. It also seems coincidental that some palm fronds are palmate (shaped like hands). I had always assumed that the word for the plant came from the appearance of these fronds. Another bit of complication: there was an ancient city in Syria named Palmyra. The name of the city is either a mistranslation of the Semitic name Tadmor or a reference to the palm trees grown in the city. If the later is true then it could be that palm trees are named after Palmyra or that the name palm tree is much older than the OED reports.

Anyway, the palm we have growing is a date palm from the species Phoenix dactylifera. Date is from the Greek word dactyl for finger. The species name simply means date-bearing (dactyl + Latin -fer). The genus name is possibly taken from either the Greek word for crimson/purple (referring to the color of date fruits) or is a reference to the Phoenicians (who used to trade the fruit). Either way it all comes back to the color. Phoenicia is an exonym given by the Greeks to a tribe that lived in ancient Canaan (the coast of Syria/Lebanon/Israel). This name came from the fact that these people provided the Greeks with Tyrian purple (royal purple dye used for textiles). Phoenix, the mythical firebird, was likewise named by the Greeks for its purple/red plumage.

Dates are one of my favorite fruits; however, I have no love for palm trees. Palms trees set a bunch of records in the plant world: they are the tallest monocots, have the longest leaves, have the largest fruits, and even have the largest inflorescences. Our little palm sprouted from the pit of a date we got at the farmer's market. Often, I'll have palms spring up in random containers because I left the seed for dead and the dirt got recycled. It can take up to a year for them to sprout.

This date palm has been growing over a year and only has two baby fronds. There are a couple of pomelos growing out of the palm pot because, like I said before, I like to recycle soil. Eventually I'll nip them off but for now they aren't really hurting anything. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this palm. My wife likes it so I guess we'll keep it around.