THE POMEGRANATE 



5. A. de Candolle 1 sums up the result of his painstaking investi- 

 gation of the diffusion of the pomegranate {Punica granatum, the sole 

 genus with two species only within the family Punicaceae) as follows: 

 "To conclude, botanical, historical, and philological data agree in show- 

 ing that the modern species is a native of Persia and some adjacent 

 countries. Its cultivation began in prehistoric time, and its early 

 extension, first toward the west and afterwards into China, has caused 

 its naturalization in cases which may give rise to errors as to its true 

 origin, for they are frequent, ancient, and enduring." In fact, the 

 pomegranate occurs spontaneously in Iran on stony ground, more 

 particularly in the mountains of Persian Kurdistan, Baluchistan, and 

 Afghanistan. I am in full accord with A. de Candolle's opinion, which, 

 as will be seen, is signally corroborated by the investigation that fol- 

 lows, and am not in the least disturbed by A. Engler's view 2 that the 

 pomegranate occurs wild in Greece and on the islands of the 

 Grecian Archipelago, and that, accordingly, it is indigenous in anterior 

 Asia and part of the Balkan Peninsula, while its propagation in Italy 

 and Spain presumably followed its cultivation in historical times. First, 

 as stated also by G. Buschan, 3 these alleged wild trees of Greece are 

 not spontaneous, but have reverted from cultivation to a wild state. 4 

 Second, be this as it may, all ancient Greek accounts concerning the 

 pomegranate relate exclusively to the cultivated, in no case to the 

 wild species; and it is a gratuitous speculation of O. Schrader, 5 who 

 follows suit with Engler, that the Greek word fro a was originally 

 applied to the indigenous wild species, and subsequently transferred 

 to the cultivated one. As will be shown hereafter, the Greek term is a 

 loan-word. The naturalization of the fruit in the Mediterranean basin 

 is, as A. de Candolle justly terms it, an extension of the original 



1 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 240. 



2 In Hehn's Kulturpflanzen, p. 246 (8th ed.). 



3 Vorgeschichtliche Botanik, p. 159. 



4 I am unable, however, to share Buschan's view that the wild specimens of Iran 

 and north-western India also belong to this class; that area is too extensive to 

 allow of so narrow an interpretation. In this case, Buschan is prejudiced in order 

 to establish his own hypothesis of an indigenous origin of the tree in Arabia (see 

 below). 



6 In Hehn's Kulturpflanzen, p. 247. 



276 



