CHAP. XLIV. (VUANATA CEiE. PU'NICA. 939 



CHAP. XLIV. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER fiRANATA'CE.^. 



The genus Punica was separated from il/yrtacejp, and formed into this 

 order, by Professor Don, in the Edin. Phil. Jiwni. of July, 1826, p. I34. It 

 contains only one genus, and the characteristics of the order will ho found 

 included in the generic character. 



Genus I. 



PU^NICA Town. The Pomegranate Tree. 



Identification. Tourn. Inst.t. 401. ; Lin. Gen , No. 618. ; Gaertn. Fruct , 1. 1. 38. ; Dec. Prod., 3. p. 3. ; 

 Don's Mill., 2. p. 653. 



Synonymes. The Carthaginian Apple; Grenadier, Fr. ; Granate, Ger. ; Melograno, Ilal. ; Granados, 

 Span. 



Derivation. PCinica is said, in the Nouveau Du Hamel, to be derived either from pmiiceus, scarlet 

 in allusion to the scarlet colour of the flowers; or from the same word, or ;]m»/c«j, both signify- 

 ing "of Carthage; " near which city, Pliny tells us, it was first found. 



Gen. Char. Cnli/x with its tube top-shaped; its limb with 5 — 7 lobes; 

 their aestivation valvate. Petals 5 — 7. Stamens numerous, with distinct 

 filaments, which bear the anthers on their inner side. Sti/le 1 . Stigma 1 . 

 Fruit spherical, crowned with the upper part of the calyx, whose lower part 

 forms the fruit's rind. The fruit does not open, and is divided into two por- 

 tions by a horizontal diaphragm. The upper portion consists of 5 — 9 cells ; 

 the lower one is smaller, and consists of 3 cells only : in both, the cells are 

 separated by membranous partitions : iii the upper, fleshy placentae extend 

 from the sides of the fruit to the centre ; in the lower, irregular processes 

 arise from the bottom. Seeds very numerous, surrounded by a transparent 

 shining pulp. Embryo oblong ; its radicle short, straight ; its cotyledons 

 leafy, spirally convolute. — Small trees, or shrubs, with branchlets imper- 

 fectly square, and becoming spiny. Leaves deciduous, opposite, more rarely 

 whorjed or alternate ; in many instances in groups in the axils ; oblong, entire. 

 Flowers scarlet, 2 — 5 together, almost sessile, and almost terminal upon 

 the branchlets. (^Dc<\ Prod., iii. p. 3.) The characters of the fruit and co- 

 tyledons, and the circumstance of the leaves being without the dots and the in- 

 tramarginal vein, possessed by the leaves of the il/yrtiiceae, have been deemed 

 sufficient by Don, De Candolle, and Martins, to distinguish Punica as of an 

 order distinct from il/yrtaceae. Lindley, in his Introduction to the Natural 

 System of Botany, under iliyrtaceae, has argued that they are not so ; and 

 his arguments are interesting to the botanical student. We have, accord- 

 ing to our general plan, followed Don's Miller. 



Description, Sfc. Low deciduous trees, or shrubs, indigenous to Africa, and 

 naturalised in the south of Europe. 



X 1. P. GranaVusi L. The common Pomegranate Tree. 



Iilrnlificalion. Lin. Sp., 676. ; Dec. Prod., 3. p. 3. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. (i53. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Stem arboreous. Leaf lanceolate. {Dec. Prod.,m. 1^.3.) 

 A native of Mauritania, whence it may have migrated into the south of 

 Europe, where it is now perfectly indigenous. 



Varieties. 



r P. G. 1 rubrum Dec. {Prod , iii. p. 3. ; Trew Ehrct, t. 7 1 . f. 1 . ; PcU. ,f 

 Tiirp. Arbr. Fr., 22.; Schkuhr Handb., t. 131. b.; Sims Hot. Ufa-'., 



