ScienceNews Erroneously Reports Germination of a 2000 Year Old Tree Seed

ScienceNews.org reported on Thursday that Israeli botanists helped Bar-Ilan University germinate a 2,000 year old date palm seed. The seed was part of an archeological collection, discovered when excavations in the ’60s uncovered five date pits in the Dead Sea region of Israel at Masada. The age of the seed was theorized through calibrated radiocarbon dating.

The erroneous reporting came through the term "tree" and "sapling," when ScienceNews incorrectly classified the ancient plant as a tree. Palms are not trees. They are monocots, being more closely related to a grass. Totally different.

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