262 
29. GRANATACEJE . 
sions membranous. Seeds numerous distinct, each coated with 
a crystalline-pellucid pulp. Albumen 0. Cot. leafy, convo- 
lute spirally. — Small somewhat thorny tr. or shr. Young 
shoots 4-angular. L. simple, mostly opposite on the young 
shoots, fasciculate or clustered on the old, not dotted, without 
stip. FI. axillary towards the ends of the branches. — The 
Order contains only a single genus. 
tfl. Punica. Character that of the Order. 
1. Pttntca L. 
Pomegranate. Romeira. 
ttl- P- Granatum L. 
Subarboreous ; 1. lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. — DC. iii. 3. 
a. rubra DC. 1. c. ; fl. deep scarlet ; seed-pulp bright garnet- 
or ruby-red. — P. Granatum Desf. i. 392 ; Brot. ii. 247 ; BM. 
1832 A. and B. ; Koch 264. — Shr. Mad. reg. 1, and lower part 
of 2, Hedges by roads in the neighbourhood of Funchal 
principally to the westward, as on the road to S. Antonio by 
the hill of S. Joao, and just before coming to the Church of 
S. Martinho, &c., perfectly naturalized. In gardens it becomes 
more of a tr. Fl. Sum. ; fr. Aut. — More of a shr. than tr. ex- 
cept in gardens, 10-15 ft. high, with straight erect cinnamon- 
coloured squarish 3 r ounger branches often spinescent or ending 
in a long sharp bare point. Young shoots and 1. reddish or 
flame-col. L. shortly stalked opposite or alternate, often fasci- 
cled, shining bright green, perfectly smooth like the whole pi., 
1-2 in. long, |-f broad, somewhat stid' and coriaceous, not 
entirely deciduous in Mad. Fl. very handsome with their 
bright-scarlet shining cal. and crumpled pet., nearly sessile or 
very shortly stalked, 1-3 together in the upper axils. Fr. 
obovate-globose, uniform y., the size of a pear or apple, with a 
hard leathery coat, contracted at top into a short neck crowned 
by the large spreading still thick starlike sep. The fr. ( Romda 
in Portuguese) lias little to recommend it but its beauty. The 
eatable part or juicy pulp surrounding the seeds is acid but 
insipid, with only a slight davour of lied Currants ( Ribcs 
rubrum L.). 
The dwarf narrow-leaved Pomegranate (P. nana L., DC.), 
with single fr. -bearing or double fl., is also often seen in gardens. 
The fr. of the single-fid. pi. is as large as, or sometimes larger 
than, that of P. Granatum L., of which it is perhnps a mere 
var. 
End of Part II. 
