113 PUNICA GRANATUM 



September. Fruit is also sometimes formed here, but it has very 

 little flavour. The flowers are frequently double in gardens. A 

 dwarf form, P. nana, Linn., with narrower leaves, is also cultivated, 

 especially in the West Indies. 



The structure of the ovary and fruit of the Pomegranate is 

 quite anomalous, and thus the genus has no close allies. Many 

 authors place it in Myrtacea, others make it an Order of itself ; the 

 authors of the " Genera Plantarum " place it (with a few others) 

 as an anomalous genus at the end of the Lythracete. 



DC. Prod., iii, p. 3; Boissier, PI. Orient., ii, p. 736; Roxburgh, 

 PL Ind., ii, 499; Lowe, Man. PI. Madeira, i, p. 262; Lindl., 

 PI. Med., p. 74. 



Official Parts and Names. GEANATI RADICIS COETEX ; the dried 

 bark of the root (B. P.). 1. The root-bark (Granati Eadicis 

 Cortex) : 2. The dried rind or pericarp of the fruit (Granati 

 Cortex) (I. P.). 1. GRANATI RADICIS COETEX; the bark of the 

 root : 2. GEANATI FEUCTUS COETEX; the rind of the fruit 

 (U. S. P.). 



1. GRANATI RADICIS COETEX. Pomegranate Root 'Bark. General 

 Characters, Commerce, and Composition. Pomegranate Root Bark 

 as' found in a dried state in commerce, is in quills or, fragments, 

 which are commonly three or four inches in length. It has a 

 yellowish-grey colour externally; and its surface is wrinkled, or 

 marked with faint longitudinal striae, or furrowed from corky 

 bands, which in the thickest pieces form broad flat exfoliating 

 scales. Its inner surface is smooth or nearly so, of a yellow colour, 

 and it has portions of the pale coloured wood frequently adhering 

 to it. It breaks with a short fracture ; has little or no odour ; but a 

 marked astringent, and very feebly bitter taste. For use in this 

 country it is commonly obtained from the south of Europe ; and 

 is more especially collected in the south of France and in Italy. 



The principal constituent of the bark is tannic acid, of which it 

 contains about 22 per cent., and which, according to Rembold, is 

 essentially a peculiar variety, and has been termed punico-tannic 

 acid. Other constituents are gallic acid in small proportion, and 



