106 



POMEGRANATE. 



PUNICA GRANATUM. 

 BY J. TJ. Lloyd. 

 Botanical History. 



The genus Punica consists at the present time of two species, the one 

 under consideration and P. protopunica, described in 1882 by Balfour, 

 from the Island of Socotra. 



Punica granatum has been in cultivation from the earliest historical 

 times, and is now found in all warm countries of the world, and fre- 

 quently as an ornamental plant in this country and abroad, where it 

 requiries protection during the winter season, as it will not endure th e 

 cold. It is recorded, e. g., that in 1838 the trees in the neighborhood 

 of London were killed by the frost. The form generally grown as or- 

 nament is the double variety, and consequently barren. The fruit of the 

 pomegranate has been esteemed a delicacy from the most ancient time, 

 and we often see it offered for sale at our friut stands. In the West 

 Indies, where the plant would thrive naturally, it is not extensivtly 

 cultivated. 



The pomegranate plant in the tropics reaches the height of a smalt 

 tree 10 to 15 feet high. The leaves are opposite, are sometimes alter- 

 nate above, oblong or lanceolate, thick and with e»tire margin. The 

 flowers are bright-red and are clustered in the axis of the upper leaves. 

 The calyx is thick, leathery, adnate, with five to seven thick valvate 

 sepals. The stamens are numerous, inserted in the calyx tube. The 

 petals are normally the same number as the segments of the calyx and 

 inserted in the mouth of the calyx-tube alternate with its segments. In 

 the double flowers commonly cultivated the petals are of course indefi- 

 nitely increased by transformation of the stamens. The fruit, which has 

 been prized for the pulp in which the seeds are imbedded, is about the 

 size of an apple, smooth, with a thick skin, and is in reality the en- 

 larged calyx surmounted by its persistent lobes. It is divided by thia 

 divisions into a number of cells, each packed full of angular seeds coa- 

 tained in a juicy pulp. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 



The pomegranate shrub, according to DeCandoUe, is originally a 

 native of Persia and adjacent countries, but has been cultivated and- 

 naturalized in the Mediterranean countries at such an early date that it 

 has ever been considered indigenous to these countries. 



Pomegranate was included among the vegetables that were held 

 sacred by the Assyrians and the Egyptians, and the latter nation made 

 it a custom to place in the graves of the dead, fruits of the field and gar- 

 den, among them pomegranates, specimens of which are preserved to 

 the present day. The pomegranate had undoubtedly an occult signifi- 

 cance with the ancient nations. It was frequently used as a mystical 

 emblem in adorning the capitals of Assyrian and Egyptian columns,, 

 and the Bible tells us that in the building of Solomon's temple the 

 capitals of the columns were decorated with a *'net-work of pomegranate.'' 

 Also the hem of the high -priest's robe was adorned with imitations of 



Called by Pliny malum punidlim (Punic or Carthaginian apple). 



