Damanhur Blomst Levering (Florist)

Egypt is the world’s number one producer of dates. The Damanhūr area is a major producer of dates within Egypt. With a population of about a quarter of a million people, the city is a hub for railways to transport the dates, and other products such as cotton, grains and vegetables. Many of these products are processed in the city, and then shipped once the final products are ready.
The dates are grown on date palm trees. Most commercial production includes a high level of intervention in the process to assure high production rates.
Only the female trees produce flowers that will become dates. The male trees produce the pollen to make the dates possible. Fully mature male date palm trees produce 5 to 10 large flowers annually. Both male and female date palm flowers are inside a spathe, which is a large protective type of leaf that encloses the flower clusters. The spathe bursts to expose the small flowering branches. The female flowers are long and slender in bunches of 3 and are yellowish green. The male flowers are thick and short, single, waxy and white.
Commercial date growers harvest the male flowers the day that the spathe opens to avoid any loss of pollen. They usually pollinate the female flowers by hand.
Check the dates you eat next time to see where they are from. They may have been grown in Damanhûr.