[3] The specific epithet theophrasti was chosen by the Swiss botanist Werner Greuter in 1967 from the fact that Theophrastus, the ancient Greek "father of botany", had described several types of palms, including one from Crete.

[3][4] A genomic study from New York University Abu Dhabi Center for Genomics and Systems Biology showed that domesticated date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) varieties from North Africa, including well-known varieties such as Medjool and Deglet Noor, are a hybrid between Middle East date palms and P.

The species has a relatively restricted distribution, mostly confined to southern Greece (a few sites on Crete and nearby islands), as well as some places on the Turkish coast.

Recently, around 10 trees, the only natural stand on the mainland, were found in an ancient palm forest in the Epidaurus area in Peloponnese.

The plants form a grove in the village of Gölköy in northern Bodrum are considered by some as a subspecies, having a shorter stem (4–8 m) but longer fruit stalks (.6–2 m).