Phoenix dactylifera and P. sylvestris in Northwestern India: a glimpse of their complex...

transcript

Background

Phoenix sylvestris

Phoenix sylvestris Roxb., together with 13 otherspecies, forms the genus Phoenix (Govaerts &

Dransfield 2005). In a phylogenetic studycombining morphological, anatomical andgenetic data, it appears close to the date palm(Phoenix dactylifera L.) and to Phoenixtheophrasti (Barrow 1998). The phylogeny of

PALMS Newton et al.: Phoenix in India Vol. 57(1) 2013

Phoenixdactylifera andP. sylvestris inNorthwesternIndia: A Glimpse oftheir ComplexRelationships

Phoenix sylvestris has often been regarded as the wild progenitor of the cultivated

date palm Phoenix dactylifera. A genetic study recently discarded this hypothesis,

suggesting however a possible occurrence of hybridization events during the

expansion of date palm cultivation. A sampling campaign was carried out in

Northwestern India as a first step towards understanding the complex

relationships between these two species.

PALMS 57(1): 37–50

CLAIRE NEWTON1,2, MURIEL GROS-BALTHAZARD1,3, SARAH IVORRA1, LAURE PARADIS1, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE PINTAUD3 ANDJEAN-FRÉDÉRIC TERRAL1,4

1Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d’Ecologie(UMR 5059 CNRS / UniversitéMontpellier 2 / EPHE / INRAP), Institut de Botanique, 163 rue Auguste Broussonet, 34090 Montpellier, France

2Laboratoire d’Archéologie et dePatrimoine, Université du Québec àRimouski, 300 allée des Ursulines,Rimouski (Qc) G5L 3A1, Canada

3UMR DIADE, équipe DYNADIV,Institut de Recherche pour leDéveloppement,911 avenue Agropolis, 34394 Montpellier cedex 5, France

4Université Montpellier 2, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France

the genus itself remains to be elucidated.

Phoenix sylvestris is widely distributed in SouthAsia, from Pakistan to Myanmar, across India,Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh (Barrow 1998,Henderson 2009) (Fig. 1). In present-day India,it is commonly found on low ground in thesub-Himalayan tract, along riverbanks on theDeccan Plateau (south-central India), in forestsup to elevations of 1350 m in HimachalPradesh, and especially on lower hill slopes inHaryana (northwestern India). It survives indisturbed areas, such as wastelands orseasonally inundated areas (Parmar & Kaushal1982).

Apart from its distribution in a “wild” state, P.sylvestris is also cultivated in parts of SouthAsia, mostly in its eastern and southeasternparts according to the literature: West Bengal(including Kolkata), the Coromandel coast,Andhra Pradesh (southeastern India) andChittagong (eastern Bangladesh) (Parmar &Kaushal 1982, Pattnayak & Misra 2004,Chowdhury et al. 2008), in Punjab and Sindprovinces of Pakistan (Stewart 1972). It iscultivated mostly for its sap, which is boileddown to produce a sweet juice (jaggery, gur,jaguri, bella) and even sugar. The sweet juice

can be drunk as such or may be made intowine (toddy, tari) (Griffith 1850, Parmar &Kaushal 1982, Chowdhury et al. 2008). Thisuse does not appear to be restricted to thecultivated palms. In fact, the names used forthe sweet juice derived from P. sylvestris sapare also given to the sweet juice extracted fromother palms and from sugarcane (Pattnayak &Misra 2004).

1. Location of our study area within South Asia with present-day political divisions, indicating the approximategeographical extent of the Harappan civilization, also known as the Indus valley civilization (ca. 2600–1900BC). Map by Laure Paradis.

2. Map of Northwestern India. Sampling areas areindicated. Map by Laure Paradis.

Whether wild or cultivated, this palm is usedfor other purposes as well. The fruit is sweetand edible, although the seed is largecompared to the amount of flesh. It is usedboth as food and as fodder for domesticanimals. The stem is widely used as buildingmaterial – beams in houses and half-pipes toconduct water – and the leaves for mattingand basketry. The palm is also planted as anornamental along roadsides and in gardens.Additionally, many parts of the plant are usedfor their medicinal properties (Parmar &Kaushal 1982).

In English, it is called date-sugar palm, Indianwine palm, sugar palm or wild date palm. Itslocal names in South Asia are numerous,according to the different regions andlanguages spoken: sendhi, kejur, khajur, khaji,salma, thalma, thakil (Hindi-Urdu); kajar, kejur(Bengali, Bengal); khejuri (Oriya, Orissa, W.Bengal); khajur (Kolami, Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra); khijur (Santali); sindi (Gondi);khajur, khaji (Punjabi); seindi (Berar); intakattinta (Kerala); sendi, khajura, khajuri(Bambaiya, Mumbai, Mahashashtra); boichand,sendri, shindi (Marathi, Maharashtra); kharak(Gujarati, Gujarat); sandole-ka-nar (Dakhini,Deccan); itchumpannay, periaitcham, itcham-nar,ichal, ithal pannay (Tamil, Tamilnadu); ita,pedda-ita, itanara, ishan-chedi (Telugu, Andhra

Pradesh); ichal, kullu, ichalu mara (Kannada,Karnataka); andadayichali, sunindu (Karnataka);khurjjuri, kharjura, madhukshir (Sanskrit) (afterBlatter 1926, Parmar & Kaushal 1982).

Phoenix dactylifera in South Asia

The date palm is presently cultivated mostlyin the Indus Valley, on the piedmont ofBaluchistan and in the Punjab (Fig. 1). It is yetunclear how ancient this practice is; apart fromvery ancient isolated seeds found insoutheastern Iran and the Baluchistan andwhich need direct radiocarbon dating(Tengberg & Newton in press, Costantini1985), several sites belonging to the Harappanculture (also called Indus Valley civilization)have yielded archaeological seeds, includingHarappa, Mohenjo-Daro and Nausharo; theydate to the second half of the third millenniumBC (Fig. 1) (Weber 1999, Marshall 1931,Costantini 1990). They probably belong to P.dactylifera, but the specific identity of some ofthem will be investigated.

Despite these ancient findings, the origin ofdate palm cultivation in the Indus Valley islocally attributed either to the army ofAlexander the Great (4th Century BC), or morerecently to Arab conquerors (7th Century AD)or to pilgrims returning from Mecca (Bonavia1885, Chandra et al. 1992). British officials

3. Leaf grinding for cattle feed (Jarpara, Kutch) (Photo. Sarah Ivorra).

also tried to reintroduce date palm cultivationfrom the Persian Gulf in the late 19th and early20th Centuries, with mixed results (Bonavia1885, Milne 1918). The most recent endeavorshave recently been focused on selectingpotential local and introduced cultivars inKutch, and on encouraging new plantations innewly irrigated areas of the Thar Desert inwestern Rajasthan (Chandra et al. 1992).

In present-day India, the main region wherethe date palm is cultivated is the fertile coastalbelt of Kutch, the westernmost part of Gujaratbordering with Pakistan (Fig. 2). This southernpart of Kutch was until the recent constructionof bridges, isolated from the mainland byseasonally flooded salt marshes, the Little andGreat Ranns of Kutch. This region has atropical monsoon climate with hot summersand mild winters. It is very dry except duringthe monsoon season from July to Septemberwhen rains can be torrential; in this climate,early maturing of the fruit is important becauseharvesting must take place before the onset ofthe rains.

The palm groves are located in three distinctareas – nearest the coast where little irrigationis necessary, and where most of the productionoccurs (near Mundra, Dhrab and Jarpara), awayfrom the coast where the water table is lowbut accessible from wells for irrigation andwhere dates mature one week earlier than onthe coast (near Anjar and Khedoi), and near

small rivers and between hills where rainwateraccumulates in a loamy sandy soil, where fruitmaturity is reached even earlier (betweenMundra and Bhuj; near Khedoi) (Chandra etal. 1992,Vashishtha 2003) (Fig. 2). It is thoughtthat these groves have been more intensivelyexploited in the last 200 years, and even moreso since the second half of the 20th Century,after the building of the bridges, which gavemarket value to the fruit by enabling theirexport from Kutch to mainland Gujarat. Theorigin of the groves is explained in a similarway as in the Indus Valley, with the additionaloption that Arab gardeners working in thepalaces of former rulers of Kutch may haveintroduced the date palm.

The date palm population in Kutch wasevaluated around 1.9 million in an area of12,493 ha in 2005 (Date Palm Research Stationof SDAU, Mundra, online document). Thispopulation is almost entirely composed ofseedlings; the palms are not propagated byoffshoots, but by seeds, and eliminatingindividuals after the first flowering eventcontrols the male population. The quality ofdates is therefore highly variable. Moreover,because of the early onset of monsoon rains,dates are harvested at khalal stage (here calleddoka) before complete maturation. Recent workat the Date Palm Research Station, now locatedin Mundra, has involved vegetativemultiplication of selected local “elite” palms,

4. Date palms along the boundaries of cotton fields (Nagar Pol, near Anjar, Kutch) (Photo. Sarah Ivorra).

but mostly the introduction and evaluation offoreign cultivars for their suitability in Kutch.Only two of these seem to be successful:‘Barhee’ and ‘Halawy,’ from Iraq, the first beingwell known for the quality of its fruit at thekhalal stage.

These characteristics of the Indian palm groveslead to low production and India thereforeimports dates from Pakistan and Middle

Eastern countries to meet consumer demand(300,000 tons in 2009 according to FAOSTAT).

The complex relationships between P.sylvestris and P. dactylifera

Morphologically, P. sylvestris is close to the datepalm, but several characters allow theirdifferentiation. Phoenix sylvestris is a strictlysolitary palm, also distinguished by its dense

5. Modern date palm grove (Devpur, Kutch) (Photo. Sarah Ivorra).

6. Fruits of Phoenix dactylifera.

spherical crown composed of relatively shortleaves with small leaf bases forming acharacteristic dense and regular pattern ofsmall diamond-shaped leaf scars on the trunkof old specimens. Leaf segments are grayish,not very rigid and sometimes twisted. Basalacanthophylls are long, deeply channelledadaxially, grouped by two and the transitionwith foliar segments is progressive. Phoenixdactylifera is considerably less homogeneousmorphologically than P. sylvestris. It is usuallyclustering, although suckering tends todecrease with age and varies among varieties.In cultivation, the solitary habit may resultfrom the removal of suckers. The crown of P.dactylifera is variously sized and shaped(spherical to hemispherical, dense to open,small to large), but the leaf bases always enlargeconsiderably producing a pattern of large leafscars on the trunk. Leaf segments are variouslycolored, from dark green to bluish, and varyfrom thin and soft to thick and rigid.Acanthophylls are extremely variable in size,shape and grouping but they are generallymuch smaller than and sharply differentiatedfrom foliar segments. Barrow (1998)distinguished P. sylvestris by having channelledacanthophylls, but this characteristic is alsocommon in P. dactylifera. In both species, leafsegments are clustered and disposed on variousplanes. The fruits of P. sylvestris are smaller

(15–25 × 12 mm) than those of the date palm(40–70 × 20–30 mm) (Barrow 1998).

Because of this morphological proximity, P.sylvestris has long been considered as the wildprogenitor of the cultivated date palm.However, a genetic study challenged thishypothesis (Pintaud et al. 2010) and with thediscovery of truly wild date palm (Phoenixdactylifera) populations (Gros-Balthazard et al.,in preparation), it is now completely rejected.Nevertheless, the two species are inter-fertile,and their relationship remains to beinvestigated. Indeed, the two species arebelieved to occur in sympatry in Pakistan andnorthwestern India, and natural crossbreedingis possible. Furthermore, humans maywittingly use the pollen of P. sylvestris tofertilize date palms. This may be onlyanecdotal, for lack of P. dactylifera pollen forexample, but also experimental and deliberate.Indeed, metaxenia, i.e. the influence of pollenon the size, shape and weight of fruits andalso maturation time is well known (Al-Khalifah 2006, Swingle 1928). A potentialbeneficial effect of P. sylvestris pollen mayencourage the farmer to use it instead of P.dactylifera pollen; a British officer with no priorknowledge in date palm cultivation relatedsuch an experiment in Lucknow (UttarPradesh) in the late 19th Century (Bonavia

7. Phoenix on field edges (ca. Jamnagar, Kathiawar Peninsula), identified as P. dactylifera using molecularanalysis (Photo. Sarah Ivorra).

1885). Sowing and germination of seeds fromthese crosses gives fully fertile hybrids.Subsequent selection of these individuals ortheir progeny with interesting features ispossible and would lead to the creation ofhybrid varieties. However, there is noconfirmed record of that kind to date.

The sampling campaign

Northwestern India appears as the perfect placefor the study of the relationships betweenthese two species as they are believed to occurin sympatry. We visited Gujarat and Rajasthan(Fig. 2) during two weeks in June and July 2010with the aim of prospecting and samplingPhoenix sylvestris and Phoenix dactylifera. Wecollected both seeds and leaflets, to be used inmorphometric and genetic analyses,respectively. The result of this campaign ispresented here as well as observationsregarding the cultivation and uses of these twoPhoenix species.

Phoenix dactylifera in the coastal plains ofKutch

Several plantations were investigated in thethree different cultivation zones defined byChandra et al. (1992, see above): in Mundra,Dhrab and Jarpara, closest to the coast, nearAnjar and Khedoi in the East of Kutch, some20 km from the coast, and in Gadhsisa andDevpur, higher in the hills, about 30 km from

the sea (Fig. 2). These stations are low inaltitude, from a few meters above sea level forMundra and surroundings to 150 m above sealevel in Gadhsisa.

In Mundra, we visited the Date Palm ResearchStation of the Sardarkrushinagar DantiwadaAgricultural University. Its Dhrab extensionholds a living collection of about 20 cultivarsfrom collections located around the PersianGulf, introduced since 1980, when the stationwas moved following a destructive flood.Within the reaches of Dhrab, we prospectedtwo farms where date palm seedlings werefound on the edges of fields but with a higherdensity than further inland. Overall, this areaseems to be the main center of date palmproduction; apart from a higher density ofpalm trees and the research station, it alsoholds several nurseries that provide seedlingsto growers in the whole of Kutch. The dateshere are used mostly for human food, and thepalm leaves are shredded and fed to cattle (Fig.3). Soil salinity seemed to be an issue for oneof the farms. Alongside the date palm, themajor crops are pearl millet, sorghum, alfalfaand fruit trees such as sapote, papaya, guava,mango and coconut.

Near Anjar and Khedoi, we visited two farmswhere fields are larger and the date palms arealso found at their boundaries (Fig. 4). In thesuburbs of Anjar, the date palms are grown

8. Phoenix sylvestris along the Sasoy River, in the North of the Kathiawar Peninsula (Photo. Sarah Ivorra).

from seedlings originating from a nursery inMundra and established as part of agovernment relief policy after the earthquakeof 2001, which destroyed much of theagricultural infrastructure. On this farm, datecultivation is therefore only a decade old. TheKhedoi farm, located 10 km away on the roadto Mundra, also grows date palms fromseedlings (about 150 individuals). However, inthis case the seedlings are obtained locally, anddate palm cultivation goes back to sometimeduring the 20th century. According to thefarmer, the first individuals were introduced (inthe form of seeds?) from Iraq and/or Iran.Manual pollination is practised, either withpollen from the three local male palms, or withpollen bought in Mundra when the timing offemale flowering does not coincide with anyof the males. Main crops in this area are pearlmillet, sorghum, cotton, sugarcane and otherfruit crops: coconut, papaya, pomegranate,grapefruit and mango. On both farms, channelirrigation is used, as the groundwater is toolow and the climate too arid; outside irrigatedfields, the vegetation is dominated by Prosopisxeric shrub-land. Dates are used for personalconsumption, sold at the local market or usedas cattle feed.

Around Ghadsisa, the landscape is hilly andthe altitude higher, around 150 m above sea

level. We first visited a large and modern farmfocused on mango production and export.Several other fruit crops are grown – sapote,several types of citrus, bananas andpomegranate. Dates are not a major product ofthis farm, and the palms are planted (fromseedlings) along the paths. A neighboring farmconsisted of a new commercial monovarietalplantation of the ‘Barhee’ date cultivarestablished in 2008 through the import ofoffshoots from the Arabian Peninsula (U.A.E.),and where drip irrigation is in use. The thirdfarm we visited in the area, within the villageof Devpur, is also a modern date palm grovewhich displays several features of the previousplantation; the palms are planted following agrid pattern, drip irrigation is used, no othercrops are grown between the palms, and thefruit on their stalks are protected from insectpests by plastic netting (Fig. 5). The onlyremaining traditional feature is that all thepalms are grown from seeds.

Overall the picture of date palm cultivation inKutch is diverse. Apart from very recentexperiments with “industrial”-type cultivation,including the import of offshoots from abroad,in most cases, and in particular on whatseemed to be the more traditional farms, thedate palm is included in a diversifiedagricultural system very rich in fruit crops,

9. Phoenix sylvestris on Mount Abu (Rajasthan) (Photo. Sarah Ivorra).

similar to the Middle-eastern oasis bustân. Thetechnique of hand pollination is well known,and the proportion of males is very low, as itis elsewhere. It is not unknown that pollenfrom Mount Abu P. sylvestris is used to pollinatedate palms at the Date Palm Research Stationand in Kutch, but there it is only an anecdotalpractice.

A major difference with palm cultivation inthe main date producing regions is the absenceof vegetative propagation by the planting ofoffshoots; nearly all the date palms are grownfrom seeds. This leads to an absence of localcultivars and a large diversity of genotypes(Fig. 6). Several nurseries are working on theselection of female individuals for the edibilityof their fruit at the earliest stage of maturation(doka in Gujarati, khalal in Arabic), when theflesh is still pale, juicy and crunchy like anapple. Nevertheless, these interestinggenotypes are transplanted in palm groves butnot cloned.

To conclude, we did not find any P. sylvestrison the coastal plains and hills of Kutch.

Phoenix in the Kathiawar Peninsula

The Kathiawar Peninsula is located inSouthwestern Gujarat and characterized byoverall low relief, except in the south-centralGir hills. We collected Phoenix populations intwo distinct areas – near the north coast on theGulf of Kutch, close to the city of Jamnagar,and farther south near Girnar hill (part of theGir hills), close to the city of Junagadh (Fig. 2).

In both regions and along our route betweenthem, the palms were found growing both inruderal form or in partly managed populationsin hedges along fields, and in riparianpopulations, in riverbeds or on riverbanks.

In the agricultural landscape, the palms growon field edges; individuals or clusters areoccasionally present, sometimes close to thehouses (Fig. 7). They form hedges, togetherwith shrubs such as acacias, Calotropis proceraand henna, and comprise male and femaleindividuals in similar proportions. Thedistinction between P. sylvestris and P.dactyliferawas not always clear and the specificassignation was performed in the lab usingmolecular markers. Near Jamnagar, one femaleindividual bore a mixture of fertilized andparthenocarpic fruits, as in the case of naturalpollination without human intervention, andanother female was said not to produce fruits,at least not good ones, according to thefarmers. This individual is categorized as “jongli

khajoori,” i.e. “wild khajoor,” and had beentapped for sap. Genetic analysis identified it asP. sylvestris. Near Junagadh, we also saw littleevidence of sap collection, with only oneindividual bearing incisions; it also belongs toP. sylvestris. A few meters away, several P.dactylifera were found in a hedge. Sapcollection in the Kathiawar Peninsula istherefore not practiced intensively orcommercially, in contrast with southeasternIndia or even Mount Abu. The palms are onlycasually used as part of a diversified agriculturaleconomy, but this may not have been the casein the past. Whether the distribution ofPhoenix in the region is of “natural” origin orlinked to human activities is as yet unknown.

Near Jamnagar we also collected material froma well-established riparian population alongthe Sasoy River, where the density is relativelyhigh and comprises both male and femaleindividuals, including very tall ones as well as

10. Scar left by the incision of the stem for saptapping, on Phoenix sylvestris (Mount Abu, Rajasthan)(Photo. Sarah Ivorra).

numerous young ones (Fig. 8). They are notvisibly incised for sap collection; farmerspointed them out to us as wild date palms(jongli khajoori). Genetic analysis also identifiedthem as P. sylvestris. In the Junagadh region,we encountered only very small and isolatedriparian populations and collected materialfrom one of them near the village of MothraKothra, where all individuals were identifiedas P. sylvestris. Again, there was no sign ofmanagement or exploitation of these palms.

Phoenix sylvestris in and around the Aravallirange

The Aravalli hills form a mountain rangeoriented southwest to northeast, separatingthe Thar Desert (Mârushthali) to the northwestfrom the rich Chambal valley to the southeast.It reaches 1722 m above sea level at the peakof Guru Shikha on Mount Abu.

We studied three populations – within thetown of Mount Abu itself on the eponymousmount, on the northwest drier foothills nearthe town of Pali and on the southeast wetterhills about 15 km north of Udaipur.

The town of Mount Abu, located between 1100and 1200 m above sea level, is an ancientsettlement with architectural monumentsattesting to its religious importance at leastsince the early 11th Century. It remains areligious center and a resort prized for its coolatmosphere in the summer. The landscape inand around Mount Abu almost up to thesummit is man-made, where a variety of localand exotic species are cultivated on theterraced slopes. The town itself, quite loose inits structure, is strewn with P. sylvestris palms.Away from the town, the thick forest, whichwe did not investigate closely, does not seemrich in palms.

Overall, the population of P. sylvestris is quitelarge in a variety of settings – in town, in acemetery, along riverbanks, on cultivatedterraces and hills surrounding the town, andcomprises many very tall specimens (Fig. 9).These palms are managed and visibly tappedfor their sap (tari) for gur production; the scarsconsecutive to the incisions of the stem arelarge and deep (Fig. 10). Local farmers told usthat the palms were not planted or sown, only

11. Phoenix sylvestris growing on the edges of (dry) fields (near Pali, Rajasthan) (Photo. Sarah Ivorra).

exploited for sap and fruit harvest. The fruitsare used both for food and for animal fodder.

Along the road down from Mount Abu andnorthward following the Aravalli hills on theirwestern side, we did not see any palmpopulation. Only close to the town of Pali didwe find P. sylvestris individuals growing in anagricultural, irrigated landscape. The palms arelocated on banks on the edges of cultivatedfields or along canals (Fig. 11). They do notseem to be tapped for sap, as there are novisible cuts on the trunks. Local crops includecastor-oil, citrus and aloe. Spontaneous ruderalspecies attest to the arid climate, with Prosopiscinerea and Calotropis procera dominating thescrub vegetation; these are the eastern reachesof the Thar Desert.

From Pali to Jodhpur then eastwards, palms areabsent until some individuals near Bilara, againon the edges of cultivated fields. Driving southfrom Beawar toward Udaipur, following theAravalli mountains on their eastern flank thistime, we re-encountered palms, first scatteredbetween fields near the town of Bhim, thenfrequently along dry riverbeds near Deogarh.In these small valleys, the mature palms lookmanaged, as the leaves have been cut off alongthe stems.

Further south, between Delwara and Udaipurare hills on which quarrying and agriculturalactivities take place. The fields are mostlylocated in the narrow river valleys, on alluvialsoil. The palms are again, like other fruit trees,located on the riverbanks or on the edges ofcultivated fields, along dry stonewalls whenthere are any (Fig. 12). This population issimilar to the one in Pali in terms of status orfunction of the palms, which do not seem tobe tapped for sap either.

These three populations are intimately relatedto the agricultural landscape and cannot beconsidered as “wild.” Although the palms arenot vegetatively propagated, the seedlingswhere appropriate are certainly protected fromgrazing and encouraged, and mature palms aretended and exploited for a variety of purposesdepending on the context. The Mount Abupopulation appears to be more intensivelyexploited and more central in the agriculturaleconomy; the palms are not only relegated tofield edges, they also form sparse butmonospecific “orchards.” Where P. sylvestrispalms are present, they form an integral partof the domesticated landscape, mostly assolitary individuals and clusters between fieldsand along canals or riverbanks. Fruits of P.sylvestris appear smaller and less diversified in

12. Phoenix sylvestris on the edges of cultivated fields between Delwara and Udaipur (Rajasthan) (Photo. SarahIvorra).

terms of size and shape than those of P.dactylifera (Fig. 13).

Discussion and Conclusions

Distribution

Regarding the question of distribution withinour sampling area, P. dactyliferawas found onlyin Kutch and on the northern coast of theKathiawar Peninsula, along the Gulf of Kutch.In Kutch, P. dactylifera was the only Phoenixspecies found, and exclusively undercultivation; we did not observe the date palmin feral form. Phoenix sylvestris was identifiedin the Kathiawar peninsula, on Mount Abuand on the northwestern and southeasternfoothills of the Aravalli, both in riparianvegetation and in agricultural settings,cultivated or at least managed and exploited.

Among our collection, it appears from geneticanalyses that one station (on the outskirts ofJamnagar) consists in a mixture of P. dactyliferaand P. sylvestris individuals. From ourunderstanding of the farmers’ point of view,they are considered in a similar way,indifferent to their specific status. Thispopulation is the only example of sympatrythat we encountered at the microlocal level. It

is located within the region anciently settledby the Harappan or Indus Valley civilization,which was centered, as the name suggests, inthe Indus valley in present-day Pakistan, butalso encompassed the whole of southernGujarat, including the Ranns of Kutch and theKathiawar Peninsula (Fig. 2). But how old isthis situation of sympatry? Is it natural orrelated to human activities? Is it new due to arecent introduction of date palms, or is it moreancient, linked to past human impacts on thedistribution of cultivated plants? Onlyhistorical and archaeobotanical approachescould help us here.

Cultivation, management and uses

Apart from rare (and new) exceptions, allpopulations from both species are composedof progeny only from seedlings. Malecultivated date palms are eliminated only afterfirst flowering, and the selection of best fruitproducers takes place on an individual basisbut without vegetative propagation. Phoenixsylvestris populations do not seem to undergoany selection based on individual qualities.From a genetic point of view, the managed orcultivated P. sylvestris populations thereforeshould have the same structure as wild ones.

13. Fruits of P. sylvestris.

Regarding the uses of these palms, the fruit ofboth species are eaten or fed to animals, butwe observed that only P. sylvestris was tappedfor sap; in Kutch, there is no sign of thispractice. However, not all palms of this speciesare tapped, only those included in theagricultural system and in certain regions –the Kathiawar Peninsula and Mount Abu. Forinstance, riparian populations in the KathiawarPeninsula were left untouched, as were theindividuals from the stations near Pali andUdaipur, even when growing on the edges offields. Presumably, the latter were exploitedfor their fruit, leaves and stems. More detailedwork on the status of these different sub-populations is needed to inform questions ofchoice: which palms are suitable for tapping,and which are not? In Mount Abu, the statusof P. sylvestris palms is strikingly different; eventhe “orchards” look as if they were wild standswhere all other trees had been eliminated infavour of the palms, a special kind of forestmanagement or even agroforestry, adomestication of the territory.

The processes whereby palms are integratedinto the agricultural system, for instance fromriparian populations, have not beeninvestigated. This “domestication” would bestbe tackled by joint ethnobotanical andbiological approaches and could perhaps alsobe relevant to the first cultivation anddomestication of the date palm. It wouldinvolve uses, cultivation practices,management and social representation ofindividuals and populations. The limitedobservations presented here already show thevariety of situations occurring over a relativelysmall area.

Our first contribution based on this collectionof both seeds and leaflets from populations ofboth species will be to investigate theirmorphological and genetic diversity as well astheir potential hybridization in natural andanthropogenic environments. Morphologicalinvestigation of Phoenix seeds from localarchaeological sites belonging to the IndusValley civilization on both sides of the border,and even around the Persian Gulf not so faraway, should also help us understand the longhistory of human exploitation of palm speciesin the area by identifying the species collectedand possible cultivation practices.

Acknowledgments

This fieldtrip was financially supported by theANR PHOENIX. The French Ministry of Higher

Education and Research is funding M.G.B.’sPhD work. C.N. was supported by theUniversity of Nottingham, Department ofArchaeology. We would like to thank all ourIndian collaborators for their invaluablecontribution to this prospection campaign.First, we thank Dr C. Renuka (Kerala ForestResearch Institute, South India), Dr V.P. Prasad(Indian Botanical Liaison Officer at KewHerbarium) and P.J. Parmar (former directorof the BSI Arid Zone Herbarium, Jodhpur), fortheir precious advice prior to the trip. ArvindKumar and Hansmukh Vasara kindlysupported us and made our journey feasiblepractically. At the Date Palm Research Stationin Mundra, we were welcomed by the directorDr. C.M. Muralidharan and by researchassistant Mr. Devshibhui Ahir. Last but notleast, we are indebted to all the farmers whoaccepted to meet us and without whomcollecting from the cultivated palmpopulations would not have been possible,including Kisauji Bay, Chiman Bay Harji BayPatel, Jamal Bay Musa Turk and the familiesmanaging Ashapura Farm, Simla Farm andMadhuban Farm.

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Phoenix dactylifera and P. sylvestris in Northwestern India: a glimpse of their complex...

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