PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 239 



shrub, but the Scriptures only mention it as a cultivated 

 species. The flower and the fruit figured in the religious 

 rites of the Phoenicians, and the goddess Aphrodite had 

 herself planted it in the isle of Cyprus/ which implies 

 that it was not indigenous there. The Greeks were 

 acquainted with the species in the time of Homer. It is 

 twice mentioned in the Odyssey as a tree in the gardens 

 of Phseacia and Phrygia. They called it roia or roa, 

 which philologists believe to be derived from the Syrian 

 and Hebrew name,^ and also siclai^ which seems to be 

 Pelasgic, for the modern Albanian name is sige.^ There 

 is nothing to show that the species was wild in Greece, 

 where Fraas and Heldreich affirm that it is now only 

 naturalized.^ 



The pomegranate enters into the myths and religious 

 ceremonies of the ancient Romans.^ Cato speaks of its 

 properties as a vermifuge. According to Pliny,'' the best 

 pomegranates came from Carthage, hence the name 

 Malum punicurn ; but it should not be supposed, as it 

 has been assumed, that the species came originally from 

 Northern Africa. Very probably the Phoenicians had 

 introduced it at Carthao^e lono^ before the Romans had 

 anything to do with this to^vn, and it was doubtless 

 cultivated as in Egypt. 



If the pomegranate had formerly been wild in 

 Northern Africa and the south of Europe, the Latins 

 would have had more original names for it than granatwni 

 (from granum ?) and Malum j^unicum. We should have 

 perhaps found local names derived from ancient Western 

 tongues ; whereas the Semitic name riminon has prevailed 

 in Greek and in Arabic, and even occurs, through Arab 

 influence, among the Berbers.^ It must be admitted that 

 the African origin is one of the errors caused by the 

 erroneous popular nomenclature of the Romans. 



Leaves and flowers of a pomegranate, described by 



^ Hebn, Cultur und Hansthiere aus Asien, edit. 3, p. 106. 



^ Hehn, ihid. ^ Lenz, Bot. der Alien Grie. und Bom., p. 681. 



* Heldreich, Die Nutzpflanzen Grieclienlands, p. 6-1. 



* Fraas, Fl. Class., p. 79 ; Heldreich, ihid. 



" Hehn, ihid. ' Pliny, lib. 13, c. 19. 



* Dictionnaire Frangais-Berhere, published by the French Government. 



