Dwarf Pomegranate

Punica granatum Lythraceae

Growth habit

Shrub

Perennation

Cultivated as annual

Native distribution

E Mediterranean to Himalaya

Biocultural value

Pomegranate fruit was a symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.

Location

Robison Herb Garden

Source of plant

Richters

Description

Deciduous, branching shrub to 2m, angled, glabrous, occasionally with spiny branches. Leaves 2-8cm, obovate to oblong, pale green, glossy above, glabrous, entire, rigid, opposite, occasionally alternate. Flowers to 3cm diameter, orange-red, funnelform-rotate, sessile; petals crumpled. Fruits to 5cm diameter, globose, brown-yellow to purple-red, many seeded, with persistent calyx; flesh juicy, edible, crimson.

USDA Hardiness Zone

7

Special characteristics

food, tender perennial, other ethnobotanical uses