Punicaceae
- For the epic poem Punica, see Silius Italicus.
Read about Punicaceae in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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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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 Punica granatum | ||||||||||||||||
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| Punica granatum L. |
Punica is a small genus of fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small trees. Its better-known species is the Pomegranate (Punica granatum). The only other species in the genus, the Socotra Pomegranate (Punica protopunica), is endemic on the island of Socotra. It differs in having pink (not red) flowers and smaller, less sweet fruit.
Although previously placed in its own family of Punicaceae, recent phylogenetic studies have shown that Punica belongs in the family Lythraceae, and it is classified in that family by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group.
References
- Graham, S. A., Thorne & Reveal (May 1998). "Validation of subfamily names in Lythraceae". Taxon 47 (2): 435-436. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0040-0262%28199805%2947%3A2%3C435%3AVOSNIL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E.
- Graham, S. A., Hall, J., Sytsma, K., & Shi, S. (2005). Phylogenetic analysis of the Lythraceae based on four gene regions and morphology. Int. J. Pl. Sci. 166: 995–1017.
- Little S. A., Stockey R. A., and Keating, R. C. (2004). "Duabanga-like leaves from the Middle Eocene Princeton chert and comparative leaf histology of Lythraceae sensu lato". American Journal of Botany 91: 1126-1139. http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/7/1126.
