PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 239 



shrub, but the Scriptures only mention it as a cultivated 

 species. The flower and the fruitfigured in the religious 

 rites of the Phoenicians, and the goddess Aphrodite had 

 herself planted it in the isle of Cyprus,^ which implies 

 that it was not indigenous there. . The Greeks were 

 acquainl^ed with the species in the time of Homer. It is 

 twice mentioned in the Ody.ssey as a tree in the gardens 

 of Phseacia and Phrygia. They called it roia or roa, 

 which philologists believe to be derived from the Syrian 

 and Hebrew name,^ and also sidaij^ which seems to be 

 Pelasgic, for the- modem Albanian name is svge.^ There 

 is nothing to show that the species was wUd in Greece, 

 where Fraas and Heldreich affirm that it is now only 

 naturalized.^ 



The pomegranate enters into the myths and religious 

 ceremonies of the ancient Romans." Cato speaks of its 

 properties as a vermifuge. According, to Pliny,^ the best 

 pomegranates came from Carthage, hence the name 

 Malum punicur/i ; but it should not be supposed, as it 

 has been assumed, that the species came originally from 

 Northern Africa. Yery probably the Phoenicians had 

 introduced it at Carthage long before the Romans had 

 anything, to do with thi§ town, and it was doubtless 

 cultivated as in Egypt. 



If the pomegranate had formerly been wild in 

 Northern Africa and the south of Europe, the Latins 

 would have had more original names for it than granatum 

 (from granum ?) ajid Malum punicum. We should have 

 perhaps found local names derived from ancient Western 

 tongues ; whereas the Semitic name rimmon has prevailed 

 in Greek and, in Arabic, and even occurs, through Arab 

 influence, among the Berbers.® It must be admitted that 

 the African origin is one of the errors caused by the 

 erroneous popular nomenclature of the Romans. 



Leaves and flowers of a pomegranate, described by 



• Hetn, Ondtur und Hansthiere ems Alien, edit. 3, p. 106. 



' Hehn, ibid. ^ Lenz, Bot. der Alien Qrie. imd Hiom., p. 681. 



• Heldreieh, Die Nutzpfianzen Grieclienlands, p. 64. 



• Fraas, Fl. Class., p. 79 ; Heldreich, ibid. 



• Hehn, ibid. ' Pliny, lib. 13, o. 19. 



• Dictiormaire Franfais-BerbSre, published by the French Goyernment. 



