Unusual date palm products: prayer beads, walking sticks and fishing boats

The date palm tree has hundreds of uses, many products supplying desert dwellers with resources not elsewhere available in nature. Insufficient information is known about the numerous minor ethnobotanical uses of the date palm. This study is concerned with unusual examples from the multiple reported uses of seeds, empty fruit stalks and leaf midribs, and their transformation into prayer beads, walking sticks and fishing boats, respectively. A better appreciation of the overall commercial and subsistence values of the date palm tree enhances justification for its further development in the broadest sense.