The Assyrian sacred tree possesses characteristics which deem it unnatural. These characteristics must have a purpose in their depiction, making the tree iconographic and rather artificial. The first note to be made is that the number of branches on the tree is limited, and there are usually seven, fifteen or thirty branches. Now the connection of these numbers of seven, fifteen and thirty with those of the week, and of the lunar wax and wane is so obvious, that it is difficult not to have believed it intentional. The branches on the tree may have indeed represented a calender of some sort.
Controversy arises over the close resemblance of the sacred tree to that of a date palm.
The process of pollinating the female date palm occurs by cutting a ripe male cluster and shaking the pollen from it over the female tree. If the pollen being used is dry, then water is necessary to sprinkle over the tree, in order for the pollen to adhere and not blow away in the wind. The object the genius is raising towards the tree is conical shaped and resembles that of the male cluster. The genius holds in the other hand a bucket, possibly for the purpose of sprinkling water over the tree to complete the pollination process. However, there are no accounts of date palm pollination in ancient Mesopotamia.