238 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



of the Caucasus.^ Westwards, that is to say, in Asia 

 Minor, in Greece, and in the Mediterranean basin gene- 

 rally, in the north of Africa and in Madeira, the species 

 appears rather to have become naturalized from cultiva- 

 tion, and by the dispersal of the seeds by bii'ds. Many 

 floras of the south of Europe speak of it as a " subspon- 

 taneous" or naturalized species. Desfontaines, in his 

 Atlantic Flora, gives, it as wild in Algeria, but subsequent 

 authors think ^ rather it is naturalized.^ I doubt its being 

 wild in Beluchistan, where the traveller Stocks found it, 

 for Anglo-Indian botanists do not allow it to be indi- 

 genous east of the Indus, and I note the absence of the 

 species in the collections from Lebanon and Syria which 

 Boissier is always careful to quote. 



In China the pomegranate exists only as a cultivated 

 plant. It was introduced from Samarkhand by Chang- 

 Kien, a century and a half before the Christian era.^ 



The naturalization in the Mediterranean basin is so 

 general that it may be termed an extension of the original 

 area. It probably dates from a very remote period, for 

 the cultivation of the species dates from a very early 

 epoch in Western Asia. 



Let us see whether historical and philological data 

 can give us any information on this head. 



I note the existence of a Sanskrit name, darimha, 

 whence several modem Indian names are derived.^ 

 Hence we may conclude that the species had long been 

 known in the regions traversed by the Aryans in their 

 route towards India. The pomegranate is mentioned 

 several times in the Old Testament, under the name of 

 rimonon,^ whence the Arabic runiTnan or ruman. It 

 was one of the fruit trees of the promised land, and the 

 Hebrews had learnt to appreciate it in Egyptian gardens. 

 Many localities in Palestine took their name from this 



* Ledebonr, Fl. Ross., ii. p. 104, 



* Mnnby, Fl. Alger., p. 49 ; Spicilegium Flora MaroccancB, p. 458. 



• Boissier, ibid. 



* Bretschneider, On Study and Value, etc., p. 16. 



• Piddington, Index. 



• Kosenmuller, Bihl. Naiurge.. i. p. 273 ; Hamilton, La Bot. de la Bihle, 

 Nice, 1871, p. 48. 



