POMEGRANATE-TREE. 339 



2. P. G. RUBRUM FLORE PLENO, Loadon. Double-JloiDerbig Red-fiowered Pome- 

 granate-tree^ distinguished by its red double flowers, and reddish pulp. 



3. P. G. ALBESCENS, Loudou. Wli'Ue-pctalled Pomegranate-tree^ known by the 

 white petals, and slightly yellowish calyx of its flowers, and by the pale-red 

 tinge of the pulp of its fruit. 



4. P. G. ALBESCENS FLORE PLENO, Loudon. Douhle-flowerhig white-petalled Pome- 

 granate-tree, distinguished by its double flowers, which are nearly white. 



5. P. G. FLAVUM, Loudon. Yellow-Jloicered Pomegranate-tree, has the flowers 

 yellow, but very rare in gardens. 



6. P. G. NANA, Loudon. Dwarf Pomegranate-tree ; Grenadier naiti, of the 

 French. This variety, which is usually treated as a species, is a native of the 

 Caribbee Islands, and of South America, in the neighbourhood of Deraerara. It 

 may be distinguished by its shrubby stem, linear leaves, red flowers, and dwarfy 

 habit, usually not exceeding five or six feet in height. 



Geography and History. The Punica granatum is indigenous to Barbary, 

 Persia, Japan, and various parts of Asia ; and has long been naturalized in the 

 south of Europe, the West Indies, Mexico, and in South America. In the Him- 

 alayas, Mr. Royle informs us that the pomegranate grows wild; and, also, that 

 it is planted near villages. It forms quite a wood iii Mazanderan, whence the 

 dried seeds are exported for medical use. The famous seedless pomegranates are 

 grown in the rich gardens lying under the snowy hills near the river Caubul. 

 They are also described as delicious about Hadgiabad, and throughout Persia. 

 "Though grown in most parts of India," says Mr. Royle, "large quantities, of 

 superior quality, are yearly brought down by the northern merchants from Cau- 

 bul, Cashmere, and Boodurwar." 



The pomegranate-tree, which partakes of the antiquity of the vine, the fig, and 

 the olive, and which, in point of utility, is numbered with the grain-bearing 

 plants, and with honey, all constituting the principal food of the eastern nations, 

 in the early stages of civilization, must possess no small degree of historical 

 interest. It is mentioned by Theophrastus under the name of roa ; the Phoeni- 

 cians called it sida ; the Greeks, cytinos ; and the Romans, according to Pliny, 

 malus punica. The Jews appear to have held the tree in great veneration, and 

 still employ the fruit in their ceremonials. It is mentioned, in the Old Testa- 

 ment, as one of the fruits discovered in the " Promised Land :" 



" A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and pomegranates ; 

 aland of oil olive, and honey;" 



Deuteronomv, viii. 8. 



and, while the Israelites sojourned in the wilderness, it was selected as one of the 

 ornaments to the robe of the ephod. The two large pillars of brass, made by 

 Hiram for the porch of Solomon's Temple, were ornamented Avith carvings of the 

 pomegranate. In the Canticles, Solomon speaks of "an orchard of pomegran- 

 ates, with pleasant fruits;" and, from other passages of Holy Writ, a wine 

 appears to have been made from this fruit. In the ancient island Euboea, now 

 Negropont, there was a statue of Juno, holding in one hand a sceptre, and in the 

 other a pomegranate. Pliny speaks of extracting a colour from the flowjers for 

 dyeing cloth a light-red. He mentions nine varieties; including the sweet, the 

 sour, the temperate, the austere, and the wine-flavoured. The rind of the sour 

 kind, he says, is the best for tanners and curriers to dress their leather with. 

 The celebrated kingdom of Granada is supposed to have derived its name from 

 the trees planted in it by the Moors ; which is rendered highly probable, by the 

 arms of their capital being a split pomegranate. 



The earliest mention of the pomegranate in Britain, is in Turner's " Herbal," 

 in 1548; but it was probably introduced long before that time by the monks, and 

 planted in the gardens of the religious houses. For a long period, it was kem 



