Common name: Date palm
Scientific name: Phoenix dactylifera, L.
Honorary Doctorates: Paul Mockapetris (January 28, 2013) Manuel Ramón Pimentel Siles (May 15, 2025) Jaime Lamo de Espinosa y Michels de Champourcin (May 15, 2025) Mariana Concepción Castell Guitard (January 28, 2026)

ORIGIN: From the southern Mediterranean basin to the coasts of Pakistan.

CHARACTERISTICS:

• A tall, single-trunked palm, often with suckers at its base.
• Spiny, glaucous leaves. It is distinguished from the Canary Island date palm by its smaller spines and grayer color.
• There are male and female specimens.

INTERESTING FACTS:

• Palm trees are not true trees but rather arborescent plants because they lack genuine secondary growth in thickness and almost never branch.
• The Elche Palm Grove is the largest palm grove in Europe, a World Heritage Site, with more than 200,000 specimens planted by the Muslims.
• The Imperial Palm of Elche is unique, boasting seven branches at a height of 2 meters. You can visit it in the Huerto del Cura (Priest’s Orchard).

USES:

• ORNAMENTAL: Used in gardens, and due to its hardiness, it has also been used for the restoration of sandy ecosystems or as a windbreak.
• FOOD: Its main use is for date production, either for eating raw or for making various products (you must try the delicacies from Elche).
• OTHER: Its fronds are used in Palm Sunday celebrations, to make baskets, fans, and even to build huts in North Africa.