188 OUR COMMON FBTTITS. 



The simply-expressed juice is so refreshing that it is con- 

 sidered superior even to that of oranges in cases of fever, 

 while Lord Bacon recommends it (preferring, however, 

 the wine, if attainable) as very efficacious in liver com- 

 plaints. It is common in Barbary, where Shaw says it 

 often weighs a pound and -measures 3 or 4 in. in dia- 

 meter; and a famous kind, bearing seedless berries, is 

 grown in gardens near Cabul, where too the natives, as we 

 are told by Royle, employ the bark of the root to expel the 

 tapeworm, a purpose to which it was applied so long since 

 as in the days of Dioscorides. The flowers and the rind 

 of the fruit are also sometimes used medicinally, both 

 being powerfully astringent ; while from the latter, it is 

 said, ink can be made equal to that produced from galls ; 

 and either from it or from the bark of the tree, according 

 to different authorities, a red or yellow dye is extracted, 

 still in use in some parts of Germany and elsewhere to 

 stain leather in imitation of Morocco. 



Early introduced into Southern Europe, it is supposed 

 that Granada in Spain owes its name to this fruit having 

 been planted there when first brought from Africa, and 

 the idea is countenanced by the fact of a split pomegra- 

 nate being displayed in the arms of that province. About 

 Genoa and Nice it is grown in a bushy form, and hedges 

 are commonly formed of it, though in many places it is 

 trained to a height of 15 or 20 ffc., assuming the shape of 

 a tree with a stem 6 or 8 ft. high, surmounted by a spread- 

 ing head similar to a hawthorn. The slender branches, 

 some of which are armed with sharp thorns, are clothed 

 with opposite leaves, about 3 in. long, of very bright 

 green, and bear at their extremities, either singly or in 

 bunches of three or four together, the large and beautiful 

 blossoms, specially characterized by their thick red calyx 

 and five to seven petals of bright scarlet, surrounding a 

 crowd of stamens. These flowers appear in succession 

 from June to September, the fruit ripening about October, 

 and sometimes hanging on the tree till the next spring or 

 summer. 



The plant was introduced into England during the reign 

 of Henry VIII., was cultivated by Gerard, and is men- 



