Pomegranate

Pomegranate (Punica Granatum'), the only species of an isolated genus of uncertain affinities, long valued in hot countries for the refreshing pulp of its fruit. It is a tree, 15 to 25 feet in height, native to West Asia and North Africa. Its opposite, simple, entire leaves have neither the glands nor the infra-marginal vein characteristic of the Myrtle order. The flower has five scarlet or white petals, an inferior ovary, and a valvate calyx. The fruit is unique in having two whorls of carpels, three or four below, and from five to ten above, with a tough leathery gold-coloured, but partly reddened, exterior, and numerous seeds each surrounded by a reddish pulp. This varies in flavour in the numerous cultivated varieties. The rind is rich in tannin, and is employed in tanning Morocco leather.