Phenological and architectural study of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) female inflorescence

Abstract

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is the main element upon which the sustainable biophysical and socio-economic organizations of the oasis ecosystem are based. The present study was carried to understand the phenology and the architecture of the date palm female inflorescence. The vegetal material was composed of two Tunisians cultivars of Phoenix dactylifera L. ‘Kenta’ and ‘Rochdi’. The observations are taken place in Gabes. Generally the inflorescence development is acrotone. The opening of date palm spathes follows a 4-steps gradient during 3 to 6 weeks after the beginning of his emergence. The inflorescence rachis is bilateralized with one ramification order corresponding to the spikelets which are organized in pseudo-verticils. The measurement of the descriptive parameters shows some differences between the two varieties and allows executing realistic models.