Thick groves of date palms dot Iraq, Jordan, and other Arab nations, where more than 60 million of the trees grow. Each palm can live a century or more and top 100 feet (30 meters).

Every part of the tree has a use. Its trunk is used as timber for homes and fences. Leaves are used for making baskets, crates, rope, and furniture. And the bases of the leaves and the tree's fruit stalks are burned as fuel.

The sweet fruit of the tree is eaten fresh or dried. Dates are also used to make foods such as chutney and vinegar. The seeds of the date are roasted and eaten as a snack. Candied dates are preserved in their own syrup. And the tree's buds are added to salads as hearts of palm.

Dates have long been a staple of the Bedouin's diet. The desert nomads remove the date's pit and replace it with a pat of butter or mash the fruit into a paste.

Date palms also play a role in religions. The fruit is mentioned hundreds of times in the Islamic holy book, the Koran, and the Muslim prophet Muhammad is said to have said, "There is among trees one that is pre-eminently blessed, as is the Muslim among men: it is the date palm."

Christians also make use of the trees, most notably on Palm Sunday. On this day, the Bible says, palms were strewn before Jesus as he entered Jerusalem prior to his crucifixion. To mark the day, palms are given out and blessed in Christian churches.