Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

POMEGRANATE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 47 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

POMEGRANATE . The pomegranate (Punica Granatum) is of exceptional See also:

interest by See also:reason of its structure, its See also:history, and its utility. It forms a See also:tree of small stature, or a See also:bush; with opposite or alternate, shining, See also:lance-shaped leaves, from theaxils of some of which proceed the brilliant See also:scarlet See also:flowers. These are raised on a See also:short stalk, and consist of a thick fleshy cylindrical or See also:bell-shaped calyx-See also:tube, with five to seven short lobes at the See also:top. From the See also:throat of the calyx proceed five to natural See also:size. i, See also:Flower cut lengthwise; the 3, Same cut across, showing petals have been removed. seeds. 2, See also:Fruit, about one-third natural 4, See also:Seed, natural size. size. seven roundish, crumpled, scarlet or See also:crimson petals, and below them very numerous slender stamens. The See also:pistil consists of two rows of carpels placed one above another, both rows embedded in, and partially inseparate from, the inner See also:surface of the calyx-tube. The styles are confluent into one slender See also:column. The fruit, which usually attains the size of a large See also:orange, consists A B (After Eichler, from Sttasburger's Lehrbuch der Botanik, by permission of Gustav See also:Fischer.) A, Floral See also:diagram.

B, See also:

Longitudinal See also:section of the ovary. of a hard leathery rind, enclosing a quantity of pulp derived from the coats of the numerous seeds. This pulp, filled as it is with refreshing See also:acid juice, constitutes the See also:chief value of the tree. The more highly cultivated forms contain more of it than the See also:wild or See also:half-wild varieties. The See also:great structural peculiarity consists in the presence of the two rows of carpels one above another (a See also:state of things which occurs exceptionally in apples and oranges), and in the fact that, while in the See also:lower See also:series the seeds are attached to the inner border or lower See also:angle of the cavity, they occupy the See also:outer See also:side in the upper series, as if during growth the upper whorl had become completely See also:bent over. By See also:Bentham and See also:Hooker the Punica is included as an anomalous genus in the See also:order Lythraceae; others consider it more nearly allied to the myrtles; while its peculiarities are so great as, in the See also:opinion of many botanists, to justify its inclusion in a See also:separate order, Punicaceae. Not only is the fruit valuable in See also:primitive See also:fashion, and as a See also:rule the livestock is of an inferior quality, though the breed of horses, of a heavy build and mostly used in See also:agriculture, is held in high esteem. Large flocks of See also:sheep are kept, both for their flesh and their See also:wool, and there are in the See also:province large See also:numbers of horned See also:cattle and of pigs, Geese and See also:goose feathers See also:form lucrative articles of export. Owing to the See also:long See also:line of See also:coast and the numerous lakes, fishing forms an important See also:industry, and large quantities of See also:herrings, eels and lampreys are sent from See also:Pomerania to other parts of See also:Germany. With the exception of the almost inexhaustible layers of See also:peat, the See also:mineral See also:wealth of the province is insignificant. Its See also:industrial activity is not great, but there are manufactures of machinery, chemicals, See also:paper, See also:tobacco and See also:sugar; these are made chiefly in or near the large towns, while See also:linen-See also:weaving is practised as a domestic industry. See also:Ship-See also:building is carried on at See also:Stettin and at several places along the coast.

The See also:

commerce of Pomerania is in a flourishing See also:condition, its See also:principal ports being Stettin, See also:Stralsund and See also:Swinemunde. See also:Education is provided for by a university at Greifswald and by numerous See also:schools. The province sends 14 members to the See also:German Reichstag, and 26 to the Prussian See also:house of representatives. The See also:heir to the Prussian See also:crown bears the See also:title of See also:governor of Pomerania. History.—In prehistoric times the See also:southern coast of the Baltic seems to have been occupied by Celts, who afterwards made way for tribes of.See also:Teutonic stock. These in their turn migrated to other settlements and were replaced, about the end of the 5th See also:century of our era, by See also:Slavonic tribes, the Wilzi and the Pomerani. The name of Pomore, or Pommern, meaning " on the See also:sea," was given to the See also:district by the latter of the tribes about the See also:time of See also:Charlemagne, and it has often changed its See also:political and See also:geographical significance. Originally it seems to have denoted the coast district between the See also:Oder and the See also:Vistula, a territory which was at first more or less dependent on See also:Poland, but which, towards the end of the 12th century, was ruled by two native princes, who took the title of See also:duke about 1170 and admitted the authority of the German See also:king in 1181. Afterwards Pomerania extended much farther to the See also:west, while being correspondingly curtailed on the See also:east, and a distinction was made between Slavinia, or See also:modern Pomerania, and Pomerellen. The latter, corresponding substantially to the See also:present province of West See also:Prussia, remained subject to Poland until 1309, when it was divided between See also:Brandenburg and the Teutonic Order. See also:Christianity was introduced in the 12th century, a bishopric being founded in the See also:Island of See also:Wollin, and its advance went rapidly See also:hand in hand with the Germanizing of the district. The history of Pomerania, as distinct from that of Pomerellen, consists mainly of an almost endless See also:succession of divisions of territory among the different lines of the ducal house; and of numerous expansions and contractions of territory through See also:constant hostilities with the elector of Brandenburg, who claimed to be the immediate feudal See also:superior of Pomerania, and with other neighbouring rulers.

The names of Vorpommern and Hinterpommern were at first synonymous with Pomerania proper, or Slavinia and Pomerellen, but towards the See also:

close of the 14th century they were transferred to the two duchies into which the former was divided. In 1625 the whole of Pomerania became See also:united under the sway of Duke Bogislaus XIV., and on his See also:death without issue, in 1637, Brandenburg claimed the duchy by virtue of a compact made in 1571. In the meantime, however, Pomerania had been devastated by the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War and occupied by the Swedes, who had taken See also:possession of its towns and fortresses. At the See also:peace of See also:Westphalia they claimed the duchy, in opposition to the elector of Brandenburg, and the result was that the latter was obliged to content himself with eastern Pomerania (Hinterpommern), and to see the western See also:part (Vorpommern) awarded to See also:Sweden. In 1720, by the peace of See also:Stockholm, See also:Swedish Pomerania was cur-tailed by extensive concessions to Prussia, but the district to the west of the Peene remained in the possession of Sweden until the See also:general See also:European See also:settlement of 1815. Then Sweden assigned her German possessions to See also:Denmark in See also:exchange for See also:Norway, whereupon Prussia, partly by See also:purchase and partly by the cession hot countries for the See also:sake of its pulp, but the rind and the bark and the outer part of the See also:root (containing the See also:alkaloid pelletierine) are valuable as astringents. The bark of the root is likewise valued as an anthelmintic in cases of tape-See also:worm. The tree is wild in See also:Afghanistan, See also:north-western See also:India, and the districts See also:south and south-west of the See also:Caspian, but it has been so long cultivated that it is difficult to say whether it is really native in See also:Palestine and the Mediterranean region. It has been cited as wild in See also:northern See also:Africa, but this appears to be a See also:mistake. See also:Professor Bayley See also:Balfour met with a wild See also:species, heretofore unknown, in the island of Socotra, the flowers of which have only a single See also:row of carpels, which suggests the inference that it may have been the source of the cultivated varieties. But, on the other hand, in Afghanistan, where Aitchison met with the tree truly wild, a See also:double row of carpels was present as usual. The antiquity of the tree as a cultivated plant is evidenced by the See also:Sanskrit name Dadimba, and by the references to the fruit in the Old Testament, and in the Odyssey, where it is spoken of as cultivated in the gardens of the See also:kings of Phaeacia and See also:Phrygia.

The fruit is frequently represented on See also:

ancient See also:Assyrian and See also:Egyptian sculptures, and had a religious significance in connexion with several See also:Oriental cults, especially the Phrygian 'cult of See also:Cybele (Arnob. v. 5 seq.; see also Baudissin, Studien, ii. 207 seq.). It was well known to the Greeks and See also:Romans, who were acquainted with its medicinal properties and its use as a tanning material. The name given by the Romans, malum punicum, indicates that they received it from See also:Carthage, as indeed is expressly stated by See also:Pliny; and this circumstance has given rise to the notion that the tree was indigenous in northern Africa.. On a See also:review of the whole See also:evidence, botanical, See also:literary and linguistic, See also:Alphonse de See also:Candolle (Origin of Cultivated See also:Plants) pronounces against its See also:African origin, and decides in favour of its source in See also:Persia and the neighbouring countries. According to Saporta, the pomegranate existed in a fossil state in beds of the See also:Pliocene See also:epoch near Meximieux in See also:Burgundy. The pomegranate is sometimes met with in cultivation against a See also:wall in See also:England, but it is too See also:tender to withstand a severe See also:winter. The double-flowered varieties are specially desirable for the beauty and long duration of their flowers.

End of Article: POMEGRANATE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
POMBAL, SEBASTIAO JOSE DE CARVALHO E MELLO, MARQUES... 		[next]
POMERANIA (German, Pommern)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries