NewsPlantsA nearly century-old dead date palm tree helped solve an ancestry mysteryThe iconic Cape Verde date palm comes from cultivated trees gone feral New data for a long-running debate on the origins of Cape Verdes treasured date palms raise questions about tweaking their scientific name.William J. Baker/Plants, People, Planet 2025By Susan Milius5 seconds agoWhat the island nation of Cape Verde cherishes as its own distinctive kind of date palm is getting an ancestry reveal.The Cape Verde date palm (Phoenix atlantica), native to the island nation its nicknamed for, is one of three trees there that dont grow in the wild anywhere else. The islands, scattered off western Africas big bulge, have six known species of native trees all together.Now a new DNA and seed-shape analysis adds weight to the idea that the remote palms arent desert-island wildlings at all. Researchers analyzed DNA from various Cape Verde date palms including a precious bit of the original 1934 specimen that a roving French botanist used to define the species.