As archaeologists look at these images of the genii, they have speculated that the cone shaped fruit is a sponge for the purpose of sprinkling holy water on the tree, a type of ritual cleansing. The fruit is sometimes called a pine cone as it sometimes has been depicted by the artists of their time. The picture farthest to the left shows the fruit as this so-called pine cone. We know that the genii is picking the fruit of immortality to put into his pouch. The illustration second to the left is an example of the stylized vine-tree rendering of the Tree of Life. It clearly shows the fruit drawn as a pine cone. The next pictures is from India and was labeled maize. It too is another example of the fruit from East Indian art. Also note the rosette design on both wrist bracelets which is also associated with the Tree of Life - yet another sacred symbol.

The legend of the Tree of Life and it's fruit of immortality can be seen in the legends of other cultures. In ancient Greece there is the story of the Hesperides, three guardian nymphs who protect a tree in a garden that grows golden apples of immortality. Also in this garden is a dragon which is another symbol of the serpent. In Norse mythology Idun is the keeper of the apples of immortality. What we know of Norse mythology is from Icelandic manuscripts. In one Sumerian legend Inanna and Dumuzi had fruit trees and one of them was an apple tree. 

"My well-stocked garden of the plain,
My barley growing high in its furrow,
My apple tree which bears fruit up to its crown,
He is lettuce planted by the water."

It is not hard to notice that most of the time there seems to be two figures tending the tree. There were two personalities that protected and were sustained by the tree and, of course, they would be Van and his modified human companion Amadon. The image of the Tree of Life persisted with kings attending to it. In fact the tree is associated with superhuman kingship.  In some depictions of the tree the guardians are eagle headed genii although some call this representation a hawk. The term griffin is sometimes used to describe these guardians.

“The heavenly origin of kingship is already attested in the earliest Mesopotamian cultures ["When the kingship was lowered from heaven the kingship was in Eridu"]. In both Sumerian and Babylonian mythology, it is expressed allegorically with the image of a tree planted upon earth by the mother goddess, Inanna/Ishtar. The sacred tree, usually represented in the form of a stylized palm tree growing on a mountain, is the most common decorative motif in Assyrian royal iconography. It occurs in imperial architecture, on seals and weapons of the ruling elite, on royal jewelry and elsewhere. The walls of the palace of king Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C.) in Kalhu (modern Nimrud) were covered with more than 400 representations of the sacred tree.”
(http://www.bib-arch.org/bswb_AO/bswbao0604kprdg3.html)   (http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/introduction/sonsofgod.htm)

There is a description of King Solomon building his House of the Lord in I Kings chapter 6. I Kings 6:1 "He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms." In other verses it is stated the cherubim are a pair and on the doors they and the tree are covered in gold. This theme of the tree with the cherubim is repeated throughout the temple many time over.

"The rosette was the most common decorative “temple symbol” throughout the ancient lands, prevalent in Mesopotamia, Western Asia, Anatolia, Crete and Greece. It is an accepted view that the rosette as a temple symbol was an outgrowth of a celestial phenomenon. (A sun circled by its satellites), or solar eclipses."  (http://www.strayreality.com/Lanis_Strayreality/where_did_they_come_from.htm) 

The rational for the rosette being derived from a solar phenomenon is due to interpretation of Paleolithic rock paintings and petroglyphs. These are some of the first images made by early man.

"In the present essay we have documented that glaring anomalies distinguish the earliest iconography associated with the various celestial bodies. Prehistoric petroglyphs from around the world consistently portray the ancient sun-god in a fashion that bears little resemblance to the appearance of the current solar orb. Among the most common petroglyphs are those which show the solar disc equipped with a central dot, an eight-spoked body, a rosette, and a pillar-like appendage. The fact that the very same images appear amongst the earliest pictographs in Sumeria, Egypt, and Mesoamerica not only confirms the stubborn longevity of these sacred images, it offers some justification for the view that a continuity of beliefs (e.g. astral worship) likewise underlies the common images, thereby offering hope of discovering the original significance of the prehistoric petroglyphs upon analysis of their historical counterparts."   (http://www.kronia.com/library/journals/rockart.txt)

The Inanna Connection
"The cuneiform tablets of Sumer display eight-pointed impressions made thousands of years ago by a stylus pushed into wet clay, and we know today that these eight-pointed impressions signify Inanna, Goddess of Morning and Evening. It seems fitting that the impressions of this ancient written language bring to mind images of both flower-like rosettes and pointed stars, for images that capture both the intensity of a star and the subtle delicacies of a flower reflect well the Goddess' paradoxical nature. In this alone, Inanna is like Kali, the Hindu goddess often called "Mother of the Universe" or "The Divine Mother", as Kali's magical diagram, or yantra, contains the eight-petaled lotus. Further, Inanna's powers as a goddess with her command of both the life-giving and life-taking aspects of the universe, in addition to the physical proximity of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to the Indus Valley, tells us that Inanna and Kali are related not by coincidence, but by a direct tie of the Sumerian to the early Indian cultures."    (http://www.maabatakali.org/inanna.htm)

"The eight-point rosette has long been identified as a symbol of Sumer's Inanna, dating back at least 5300 years before present [Figures 1-2]. The iconographic link between Inanna and the eight-point rosette was already well established by 3000 BCE.13 The rosette was incorporated into game boards as early as those excavated from the Royal Tombs of Sumer [Figure 3], circa 3000-2600 BCE.14"   (http://www.goddesschess.com/chessays/janigk.html)

Game board Figure 3

The subtitle of Watchers, Vanites and Adamites refers to those celestials who were able to benefit from the Tree of Life and as the Sumerian records show all three in some way were connected to this tree. The Watchers (or as the Anunnaki) were connected to it through Dilmun the garden of the gods where no one grew old.  The Vanites through Enki and the Adamites were connected through Inanna.