ABSTRACT
The genus Punica is the only genus of the family Punicaceae. The genus includes two species or, according to others, four species. The species cultivated in many subtropical countries for its fruit and sometimes also as an ornamental is Punica granatum L. The pomegranates are large shrubs or small trees, though dwarf ornamental forms also exist. The trees are as a rule deciduous, but in hot climates, as in southern India, at least certain cvs behave as evergreens. Both vegetative and flower buds open well even after warm winters. Flower buds are lateral or terminal, and they are “mixed”, containing both leaf and flower initials, and are borne on normal shoots or 1- to 2-year-old spurs developing during the summer season. Flowers or inflorescences are borne on the shoots growing out in spring laterally or terminally. Photoperiodism seems to play a certain role in the development of flower buds. The flowers are short peduncled or subsessile.
