pomegranate

Names and Synonyms

Common Names

• pomegranate
• pomegranate
• Pomegranate Tree

Scientific Names

Accepted name

Synonyms

• Granatum punicum
• Punica legrellei
• Punica granatum var. nana
• Punica granatum var. vulgaris
• Punica granatum var. microcarpa
• Punica granatum var. macrocarpa
• Punica granatum var. sanguinea
• Punica granatum var. acidula
• Punica granatum var. alba
• Punica granatum var. pleniflora
• Punica granatum var. lutea
• Punica granatum var. semiplena
• Punica granatum var. variegata
• Punica granatum var. albescens
• Punica granatum var. semperflorens
• Punica granatum var. multiplex
• Punica granatum var. parvifolia
• Punica granatum f. multiplex
• Punica granatum var. militensis
• Punica granatum f. flavescens
• Punica granatum var. flavescens
• Punica granatum var. flava
• Punica granatum var. legrelliae
• Punica granatum f. legrelliae
• Punica granatum f. plena
• Punica granatum var. pumila
• Punica granatum var. frutescens
• Punica granatum f. albescens
• Punica granatum f. pleniflora
• Punica granatum var. sativum
• Punica nana

Regional and Traditional Names

Sources: Wikidata, Catalogue of Life

Taxonomical Classification

This plant, known scientifically as Punica granatum, belongs to the kingdom Plantae and the phylum Streptophyta. Within the class Equisetopsida and subclass Magnoliidae, it is further classified under the order Myrtales and the family Lythraceae. Ultimately, its taxonomic hierarchy concludes within the genus Punica.

Sources: The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP)

Distribution

This plant, known as Punica granatum, exhibits a varied distribution across several European regions. In Northern Europe, its presence can be noted in Sweden. Moving toward Middle Europe, it is found within the borders of Austria. The species also inhabits Switzerland, which is another key location in Middle Europe. Finally, in Southwestern Europe, its range extends to the Baleares and Corse.

Sources: The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP)

Botanical Identification

Ecology

The ecology of Punica granatum is characterized by its remarkable adaptability to diverse topographical and geological environments, ranging from sea level up to a maximum elevation of 2775 m AMSL. This species thrives in a wide array of habitats, demonstrating a high tolerance for varying substrates and terrains including hills, mountains, and stony places. It is frequently found in arid or semi-arid landscapes such as steppes, and it possesses the resilience to grow in sandy soils and along shores. This broad ecological plasticity allows the plant to occupy a significant altitudinal gradient, spanning from 0 m AMSL to its highest recorded limit in mountainous regions.

Elevational range max:

2775 m AMSL

Elevational range min:

0 m AMSL

Habitat :

hills, mountains, sand, shores, steppe, stony places

Life history

The life history of Punica granatum is characterized by its existence as a perennial plant, ensuring long-term survival through multiple growing seasons. As a phanerophyte, its regenerative buds are located high above the ground on woody stems, a structural adaptation that defines its life form. The plant exhibits a deciduous nature, shedding its foliage seasonally in response to environmental cues, which dictates its rhythmic growth patterns throughout the year.

Deciduousness :

deciduous

Life form :

phanerophyte

Lifecycle :

perennial

Morphology

The morphology of Punica granatum is characterized by a woody growth form, typically manifesting as a shrub. As a terrestrial plant, it functions as an independent organism, neither acting as a parasite nor as an epiphyte. The plant is self-supporting rather than being a climber, liana, or vine. In terms of stature, it exhibits a variable plant height that ranges from a minimum of 1 m to a maximum of 5 m, with an average height of approximately 4.37 m.

Aquatic :

terrestrial

Climber :

self-supporting

Epiphyte :

terrestrial

Growth form :

shrub

Parasite :

independent

Plant height max:

5 m

Plant height mean:

4.36666666666667 m

Plant height min:

1 m

Woodiness :

woody

Physiology

The physiology of Punica granatum is characterized by a C3 photosynthetic pathway, which dictates its carbon fixation processes and metabolic efficiency. Its foliage consists of leaves with an alternate arrangement, typically exhibiting an oblong leaf form. These leaves are non-succulent in nature and vary in size, with a minimum length of 2 cm and a maximum length of 7 cm, while their width ranges from a minimum of 0.8 cm to a maximum of 2 cm. Furthermore, the plant does not function as a nitrogen fixer, relying instead on soil nutrient availability for its nitrogen requirements.

Leaf arrangement :

alternate

Leaf form :

oblong

Leaf length max:

7 cm

Leaf length min:

2 cm

Leaf width max:

2 cm

Leaf width min:

0.8 cm

Nitrogen fixer :

no

Photosynthetic pathway :

C3

Succulence :

no

Reproduction

The reproduction of Punica granatum is characterized by a distinct flowering period that typically begins in May and concludes in July. The plant produces vibrant red flowers that vary in size, with lengths ranging from 1.8 cm to 2.4 cm and widths between 3 cm and 4 cm. These flowers utilize a biotic pollination syndrome, specifically relying on insect pollinators to facilitate fertilization. Following successful pollination, the plant develops characteristic red fruits that can reach a maximum width of 12 cm, with a minimum width of 5 cm and a mean length of approximately 7 cm. The seeds contained within the fruit are quite small, with a mean mass of 0.06008625 g, ranging from a minimum of 0.01014 g to a maximum of 0.073 g. Dispersal of the seeds occurs through zoochorous methods, where animals play a role in spreading the plant, though it is also noted to be subject to anthropochorous dispersal through human intervention.

Dispersal syndrome :

zoochorous

Dispersal syndrome :

anthropochorous

Flower colour :

red

Flower length max:

2.4 cm

Flower length min:

1.8 cm

Flower width max:

4 cm

Flower width min:

3 cm

Flowering time :

May

Flowering time :

Jul

Fruit colour :

red

Fruit length mean:

7 cm

Fruit width max:

12 cm

Fruit width min:

5 cm

Pollination syndrome :

insect

Pollination syndrome :

biotic

Seed mass max:

0.073 g

Seed mass mean:

0.06008625 g

Seed mass min:

0.01014 g

Sources: Global Inventory of Floras and Traits (GIFT)

Plant Parts

Punica granatum has 7 reported plant parts identified across 40 scientific publications and several other databases that are studied for medicinal purposes. The most consistently reported plant part include fruit, seed, leaf, flower, root.

Fruit

1. Journal of Indian Society of Periodontology
2. Journal of ethnopharmacology
3. Infection and drug resistance
4. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland)
5. Journal of medicinal food

Seed

1. International journal of biomaterials
2. Daru : journal of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences
3. Journal of ethnopharmacology
4. Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
5. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)

Leaf

1. Journal of ethnopharmacology
2. Planta medica
3. Veterinary medicine international
4. Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine
5. Chemistry & biodiversity

Flower

1. Chemical & pharmaceutical bulletin
2. Toxicology and applied pharmacology
3. Journal of ethnopharmacology

Root

1. Bollettino della Societa italiana di biologia sperimentale
2. Journal of ethnopharmacology
3. Current medical mycology

Rhizome

1. Journal of ethnopharmacology

Stem

1. Revista cubana de medicina tropical

Chemicals

Punica granatum has 276 reported phytochemicals identified across 40 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported chemicals include ellagic acid, Punicalagin, Flavonoids, Gallic acid, Tannins.

ellagic acid

1. Dr. Duke
2. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
3. Frontiers in pharmacology
4. Journal of medicinal food
5. Foods (Basel, Switzerland)

Punicalagin

1. Dr. Duke
2. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
3. Cell communication and signaling : CCS
4. Foods (Basel, Switzerland)
5. Biomolecules

Flavonoids

1. Dr. Duke
2. Scientific reports
3. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
4. Foods (Basel, Switzerland)
5. Phytochemical analysis : PCA

Gallic acid

1. Dr. Duke
2. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
3. Zhongguo Zhong yao za zhi = Zhongguo zhongyao zazhi = China journal of Chinese materia medica
4. Toxicology and applied pharmacology
5. Journal of food biochemistry

Tannins

1. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
2. Journal of parasitic diseases : official organ of the Indian Society for Parasitology
3. Archivos de investigacion medica
4. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry
5. Food & function

polyphenols

1. Dr. Duke
2. BMC complementary medicine and therapies
3. Phytochemical analysis : PCA
4. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry
5. Food science & nutrition

Anthocyanins

1. Dr. Duke
2. Scientific reports
3. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
4. Nutrition reviews
5. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry

Ellagitannins

1. International journal of antimicrobial agents
2. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry
3. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
4. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry
5. Bioorganic chemistry

Punicalin

1. Dr. Duke
2. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
3. Foods (Basel, Switzerland)
4. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
5. Bioorganic chemistry

Punicic acid

1. Dr. Duke
2. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
3. International journal of microbiology
4. International journal of pharmaceutics: X
5. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry

Activities

Punica granatum has 712 reported activities identified across 40 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported activities include Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, Antibacterial, Anticancer, Antiviral.

Antioxidant

1. Dr. Duke
2. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
3. Phytotherapy research : PTR
4. ACS omega
5. Current drug targets

Antimicrobial

1. Dr. Duke
2. Bioprocess and biosystems engineering
3. Nutrients
4. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
5. BMC complementary medicine and therapies

Antibacterial

1. Dr. Duke
2. Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland)
3. Saudi journal of biological sciences
4. Current drug targets
5. Phytotherapy research : PTR

Anticancer

1. Dr. Duke
2. Saudi journal of biological sciences
3. Phytotherapy research : PTR
4. BMC complementary medicine and therapies
5. Journal of ethnopharmacology

Antiviral

1. Dr. Duke
2. Cryo letters
3. Current topics in medicinal chemistry
4. Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics
5. Cellular and molecular biology (Noisy-le-Grand, France)

Anthelmintic

1. Dr. Duke
2. Microscopy research and technique
3. Journal of parasitic diseases : official organ of the Indian Society for Parasitology
4. Parasite (Paris, France)
5. Cellular and molecular biology (Noisy-le-Grand, France)

Antidiabetic

1. Dr. Duke
2. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
3. Natural product research
4. Journal of cosmetic dermatology
5. Iranian biomedical journal

Antifungal

1. BMC complementary medicine and therapies
2. Cellular and molecular biology (Noisy-le-Grand, France)
3. Current medical mycology
4. Folia medica
5. Current drug discovery technologies

Cytotoxic

1. Dr. Duke
2. BMC complementary medicine and therapies
3. Natural product research
4. Antiviral chemistry & chemotherapy

Hypoglycemic

1. Dr. Duke
2. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
3. Chemistry & biodiversity
4. Plants (Basel, Switzerland)

Conditions

Punica granatum has 216 reported investigations on conditions identified across 40 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported conditions include inflammation, oxidative stress, cancer, diarrhea, obesity.

Inflammation

1. Nutrients
2. Journal of ethnopharmacology
3. Frontiers in pharmacology
4. Cell communication and signaling : CCS
5. Nutrition reviews

Oxidative stress

1. Phytochemical analysis : PCA
2. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
3. Inflammopharmacology
4. Acta poloniae pharmaceutica
5. Iranian journal of kidney diseases

Cancer

1. Journal of ethnopharmacology
2. Phytotherapy research : PTR
3. BMC complementary medicine and therapies
4. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland)
5. Foods (Basel, Switzerland)

Diarrhea

1. Journal of ethnopharmacology
2. Revista de gastroenterologia del Peru : organo oficial de la Sociedad de Gastroenterologia del Peru
3. Mediators of inflammation
4. BioMed research international
5. Recent patents on inflammation & allergy drug discovery

Obesity

1. Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis
2. Food science & nutrition
3. Food & function
4. Complementary therapies in medicine
5. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie

Staphylococcus aureus

1. African journal of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines : AJTCAM
2. Materials science & engineering. C, Materials for biological applications
3. BMC complementary and alternative medicine
4. Journal of ethnopharmacology
5. Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia

Hypertension

1. Pakistan journal of biological sciences : PJBS
2. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry
3. Journal of traditional and complementary medicine
4. Phytotherapy research : PTR
5. Frontiers in pharmacology

Escherichia coli

1. Indian journal of pharmaceutical sciences
2. International journal of microbiology
3. African journal of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines : AJTCAM
4. BMC complementary and alternative medicine
5. Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia

Antioxidant

1. Journal of cosmetic dermatology
2. Frontiers in genetics
3. Frontiers in medicine
4. Chemistry & biodiversity
5. Plants (Basel, Switzerland)

Breast cancer

1. Frontiers in pharmacology
2. Natural product research
3. BioMed research international
4. Nutrition and cancer
5. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry

Preparations

Punica granatum has 87 reported preparations identified across 40 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported preparations include extracts, Ethanolic extracts, methanolic extracts, methanol extracts, peel extract.

Extracts

1. Nutrients
2. Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.)
3. Cryo letters
4. Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
5. Pharmaceutics

Ethanolic extracts

1. Pakistan journal of pharmaceutical sciences
2. Journal of food protection
3. Fitoterapia
4. Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Methanolic extracts

1. Iranian journal of pharmaceutical research : IJPR
2. International journal of cosmetic science
3. PloS one
4. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology

Methanol extracts

1. Natural product research
2. Phytotherapy research : PTR
3. Journal of natural medicines

Peel extract

1. Saudi journal of biological sciences
2. Pakistan journal of pharmaceutical sciences
3. Complementary therapies in clinical practice

Methanolic extracts

1. Journal of ethnopharmacology
2. Journal of infection in developing countries

Aqueous extracts

1. Phytotherapy research : PTR
2. Cellular and molecular biology (Noisy-le-Grand, France)

Ethanolic extract

1. BMC complementary and alternative medicine
2. Natural product research

Ethanolic extracts

1. Journal of ethnopharmacology
2. Parasite (Paris, France)

Ethyl acetate fraction

1. Natural product research
2. Journal of traditional and complementary medicine