POMEGRANATE 209 
POMEGRANATE 
Natural Order LyTHRARIEZ. Genus Punica 
Punica (from the ancient name Maluwm punicum, or Punic Apple, pro- 
bably derived from punicans, ruddy). A genus comprising one solitary 
species, whose description will render unnecessary our usual divisions of 
matter. It has been in cultivation from very early times, the cool and 
refreshing pulp being greatly valued in warm climates. It appears to 
be a native of Persia and the neighbouring region, whence it has been 
introduced into the Tropics, and there widely cultivated. Our own 
country received the plant in the year 1548, and it was formerly far 
more widely grown here than is the custom at present. As it is very 
rarely that fruits ripen, or that even the flowers properly develop here, 
it is not to be wondered that more manageable plants have in a measure 
ousted it from our gardens. 
a. UNICA GRANATUM (grains). Stem woody, 20 to 30 
"feet high. Leaves oblong or lance-shaped, entire, without 
the dots noticed in Myrtus. Flowers usually scarlet, occasionally white 
or yellowish ; calyx thick and fleshy at first, afterwards leathery, top- 
shaped, with five to seven lobes; the petals agree in number with the 
lobes of the calyx—except, of course, in the double varieties; June to 
September. Fruit about 3} inches across, with a tough leathery rind of 
a golden hue suffused with red. This rind contains a great quantity of 
tannin, and is made use of ‘in preparing morroco-leather. The fruit is 
singular from the fact that it is built up of two series of carpels, one 
above the other. The contained seeds are separately invested with a 
coating of clear pulp. In the typical form this is sweet to the taste, but 
in some of the varieties it is acid or astringent. 
There is a variety with large double flowers. This flowers annually on 
a south wall out of doors at Kew. There is also a whitish double-flowered 
variety. P. nana is much smaller in all respects, and scarcely exceeds 5 
or 6 feet. The leaves are much narrower, flowers smaller, and the fruit 
_ searcely larger than a walnut. It was introduced from the West Indies 
_ as a distinct species in the year 1723. 
| _ P. nana is grown as a pot-plant for the conservatory, 
ae and on a wall in the open air at Kew. In some parts of 
Germany P. nana is grown in the form of little bushes a foot high, and 
made to flower profusely in autumn. It is used as a decorative plant for 
Il.—12 
‘Cultivation. 
