N. 0. LYTHRACE^. 569 



to petals ; with here and there an abortive anther or anthers ; 

 the second is the variety which bears hermaphrodite flowers 

 finally bearing fruit. Branchlets round, often spinescent. 

 " Bark grey, thin, peeling off in small flakes. Wood light-yellow, 

 with a small dark-coloured, irregular heartwood, hard, compact, 

 and close-grained " (Gamble). Brandis says the tree is deci- 

 duous. Leaves opposite, often fascicled on arrested branches 

 commonly l-3in. long by -jrfm. broad, narrower at both ends, 

 oblong-lanceolate or oblanceolate, obtuse, narrowed into a slender 

 petiole, intra-marginal nerve distinct or obscure. Hermaphrodite 

 flowers shortly pedicelled, axillary, solitary or somewhat clus- 

 tered large orange red. Calyx- tube funnel-shaped, coriaceous, 

 adnate to the ovary below, enlarged above the ovary ; lobes 

 5-7 persistent on the fruit. Petals |in., inserted in the mouth 

 of the Calyx-tube crumpled in bud. Stamens numerous, insert- 

 ed at different levels below the petals, anther-cells attached 

 to the edges of a broad connective. Style long, bent. Stigma 

 capitate. Carpels in several tiers on the inside of a hollow 

 receptacle, here called Calyx-tube. Ovules numerous, placentas 

 in some cells axile, in others parietal. Carpels coalesce early 

 and form a large globose indehiscent fruit crowned by the 

 persistent Calyx and containing under a coriaceous rind two 

 tiers of cells, Sin. the lower, 5-9in., the upper, tier. Seeds 

 numerous in each cell, and surrounded by red juice. Cotyledons 

 foliacious, spirally convolute. 



" An anomalous genus allied to Myrtacece through Psidium, and to Rosacece 

 through Cydonia." (Duthie). 



Uses :— Hindoo physicians use the fresh juice of the fruits 

 as an ingredient of cooling and refrigerant mixtures of some 

 medicines for dyspepsia. They also use the rind of the fruit 

 and the flowers, combined with aromatics, such as cloves, 

 cinnamon, coriander, pepper, etc., as a bowel astringent in 

 diarrhoea. The seeds are considered to be stomachic, the 

 pulp cardiac and stomachic. No notice is to be found of the 

 medicinal use of the pomegranate root-bark in Sanskrit works 

 (U. C. Dutt). 



The Arabs recommend the root-bark as being the most 



astringent part of the plant, and a perfect specific in cases of 



72 



