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:''For the epic poem ''Punica'', see [[Silius Italicus]].
:''For the epic poem ''Punica'', see [[Silius Italicus]].
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Punicaceae (from the genus Punica, derived from the Latin in reference to Carthage, near which city the plant is said to have grown; or from the Latin meaning scarlet, in reference to the flowers). Pomegranate Family. Fig. 42. Shrubs or commonly small trees: leaves mostly opposite: flowers bisexual, usually perigynous; receptacle campanulate or tubular, thickened above the ovary; sepals 5-8, fleshy, valvate; petals 5-7, imbricated, inserted with the sepals on the edge of the receptacle; stamens very numerous, clothing the tube of the receptacle; carpels in 1-2 (rarely 3) superimposed series, 3 in the lower and usually 5-7 in the upper; ovary more or less inferior, with as many cells as carpels; placentae of the lower series axile, of the upper parietal, the cells many-ovuled; style and stigma 1: fruit a berry, the pulpy central mass of which is formed from the fleshy outer seed-coats.
This is a family of only 1 genus and 2 species, natives of the Mediterranean region and eastward to the Himalayas. It was formerly united with the Lythraceae, but the peculiar ovary is unique. Punica Granatum is the famous pomegranate, cultivated for its fruit since the earliest times, and now widely spread over the tropics. This species is cultivated in the southern states and in greenhouses. It has escaped in Florida.
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