Punica granatum
Small
glabrous trees or shrubs, of 1 genus and 2 species native from the Mediterranean
region to Himalayas, but the pomegranate through long cultivation is widely
distributed in tropical and subtropical regions.
Branches often spiny-tipped; leaves mostly opposite, exstipluate.
Flowers bisexual, 1-5 together on the tips of axillary shoots; receptacle
or calyx-tube campanulate or tubular, leathery, the 5-7 thick sepals persistent
on the fruit; petals 5-7, alternate with sepals and inserted on edge of
receptacle, wrinkled; stamens many, clothing the inside of the receptacle, the
filaments slender; ovary inferior, 3-7 celled, the cells superimposed in 2
series, the lower with axile and upper with parietal placentation, ovules
numerous on all placentae; style and stigma 1.
Fruit a thick skinned spherical several-celled berry, the seeds
surrounded by juicy pulp. (Bailey 721).
Upper Newport Bay species within the family: