THE POMEGRANATE. 



Punica Granatum L. MYRTACEAE. 



Ma.ltese=Rumtniena or Rimmiena. \te&A.v.Melagranato or Melagrano. 

 French^: Grenadier. 



The Pomegranate was the national tree of Phoenicia, 

 and the Phoenician architect of Solomon's temple did 

 not forget to place a chest of bronze pomegranates on 

 each of the two bronze pillars at the entrance. This 

 beautiful fruit surmounted by the crown-like calyx, 

 and full of seeds each surrounded by juicy pulp which 

 is often of a delicious flavour, is a fit emblem of 

 Providence. The tree is a native of the East, from 

 Greece to India, but is naturalized in our valleys, in 

 several of which it grows wild or half-wild. The tree 

 is deciduous, but on account of the lively green of 

 its small elliptical foliage and the large scarlet flowers, 

 followed by the large fruit often beautifully coloured, 

 it is an ornamental tree of no mean value, besides its 

 commercial importance as a fruit tree. It is a tree 

 often exceeding 4 metres in height, with a trunk more 

 or less crooked, whose yellowish brown bark flakes 

 off in small pieces with age, but owing to its tendency 

 to throw up suckers from the base of the trunk, at 

 any rate when young, it often acquires a shrub-like 

 character In the typical wild pomegranate the fruit is 

 sprightly acid, and is uneatable without the addition 

 of sugar, and the plants are therefore budded with 

 one of the cultivated varieties. The juice of the cultivated 

 pomegranates contains much fruit sugar and has marked 

 refreshing qualities without astringency. The leathery 

 peel of the fruit and the placental segments to which the 

 seeds are attached, are very rich in tannic and gallic 

 acids, and are extensively used by dyers. They also 



