212 
Granatum. 
Am.  Jour.  Phann. 
May,  1811. 
has  been  esteemed  a  delicacy  from  the  most  ancient  time,  and  we 
often  see  it  offered  for  sale  at  our  fruit  stands.  In  the  West  Indies, 
where  the  plant  would  thrive  naturally,  it  is  not  extensively  cul- 
tivated, and  the  writer  of  this  botanical  history  (C.  G.  Lloyd), 
who  has  visited  all  these  islands,  does  not  remember  to  have  seen 
it  or  its  fruit  here.  Like  all  cultivated  plants,  it  is  liable  to 
variation,  and  several  of  its  forms  have  been  considered  distinct 
species  and  named  by  several  authors ;  however,  they  are  all  now 
considered  forms  of  one  species. 
The  pomegranate  shrub,  according  to  De  Candolle,  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  even  been  considered  indigenous  to  these  countries. 
Pomegranate  was  included  among  the  vegetables  that  were  held 
sacred  by  the  Assyrians  and  the  Egyptians.  The  latter  nation 
made  it  a  custom  to  place  in  the  graves  of  the  dead  fruits  of  the 
field  and  garden,  among  them  pomegranates,  specimens  of  which 
are  preserved  to  the  present  day.  The  pomegranate  had  undoubtedly 
an  occult  significance  with  the  ancient  nations.  It  was  frequently 
used  as  a  mystical  emblem  in  adorning  the  capitals  of  Assyrian  and 
Egyptian  columns,  and  the  Bible  (ist  Book  of  Kings,  vii,  i8,  20) 
tells  us  that  in  the  building  of  Solomon's  Temple  the  capitals  of 
the  columns  were  decorated  with  a  "  network  of  pomegranates." 
Also  (Exodus,  xxviii,  33,  34),  the  hem  of  the  high  priest's  robe 
was  adorned  with  imitations  of  pomegranates  in  blue,  purple  and 
scarlet,  alternating  with  bells  of  gold.  The  pomegranate  was  one 
of  the  three  fruits  brought  to  Moses  by  the  men  that  he  sent  to 
spy  out  the  land  of  promise.  Many  other  passages  scattered 
throughout  the  Bible  refer  to  our  plant,  and  testify  to  the  esteem 
in  which  the  tree  and  the  fruit  (then  called  riinmon)  were  held 
in  ancient  times.  The  fruit  and  seed  of  the  pomegranates  are  often 
mentioned  in  the     Arabian  Nights." 
Pomegranates  were  represented  on  Carthaginian  and  Phenician 
medals  and  on  the  reverse  of  the  coins  of  the  Island  of  Rhodes.  In 
Greek  mythology  the  pomegranate  is  very  conspicuous  and  sym- 
bolizes fecundity  and  abundance.  The  fruit  was  dedicated  to  Juno, 
a  deity  always  represented  in  sculpture  as  holding  a  pomegranate. 
The  Greek  authors,  e.g.,  Theophrastus,  describe  the  pome- 
granate under  the  names  of  "  roa  "  and  "  roa  side  " ;  also  Dios- 
corides,  who  quite  explicitly  sets  forth  the  medicinal  properties  of 
