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Herb Profile Pomegranate Punica granatum Family: Lythraceae (formerly Punicaceae) INTRODUCTION century, hand-thrown weapons made of cast iron and filled Pomegranate is a deciduous shrub or small tree, some- with gunpowder had been invented and called grenades. To times thorny, growing to 16 feet (five meters) tall.1-3 It has this day, opening a grenade exposes tiny balls of shrapnel oblong, shiny, leathery leaves up to three inches (eight centi- that resemble a pomegranate’s seeds. meters) in length, and the scarlet funnel-shaped flower has The name for pomegranate in both Arabic (rumman) and 1-5 Hebrew (rimmon) means “fruit of paradise,” and it has been five-to-eight rumpled petals with a matching calyx. The 1,7 fruit is a large berry with tough, leathery skin (called a husk, a symbol of love since ancient times. It was mentioned rind, or pericarp), with a persistent calyx and fleshy pulp multiple times in the Biblical Song of Songs, also known enclosing edible seeds.2,3,5 as the Song of Solomon (Solomon 4:3, 4:13, 6:7, 6:11, 7:12, The pomegranate is believed to have originated in and 8:2); it played a large role in the Greek myth of Perse- phone; and it was associated commonly with Aphrodite Persia (modern-day Iran), Afghan- 1,7 istan, Pakistan (particularly the and Dionysius. Even Shakespeare 6 made note of the pomegranate tree province of Baluchistan), and 12 perhaps northern India. It was in Romeo and Juliet. spread throughout the Middle East Pomegranate has been affiliated to Southeastern Europe around the with abundance, blessings, fertility, Mediterranean, to China, North immortality, invincibility, posterity, prosperity, and the endurance of Africa, and eventually to warm 1,7 regions of the New World.2,3,7 In marriage. While its multitude of India, P. granatum is found in the seeds might explain why pomegran- wild only in the Western Himala- ate is linked with fertility, it is inter- yan regions comprising the states esting to note that in one version of of Jammu, Kashmir, Himachal the Greek myth, Persephone, daugh- Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.8 To the ter of the fertility goddess, Demeter, northwest of Iran — in Armenia, disobeyed her father, Zeus, and ate Azerbaijan, and Georgia — there some pomegranate seeds while in are wild pomegranate groves found the underworld, causing Demeter’s outside of abandoned ancient settle- distress and the onset of autumn and 9 winter in the world above (i.e., an ments. Naturalized in Western 13 China, it was probably introduced interruption of fertility). Perhaps there from Central Asia during the not coincidentally, contraception Han Dynasty (207 BCE to 220 was one of the earliest reported CE).10 medicinal uses of pomegranate. The The pericarp and pulp of the Greek physician Soranus recorded Pomegranate Punica granatum. five prescriptions for either oral fruit as well as the root bark are Photo ©2013 Steven Foster used either culinarily or medici- contraceptives or vaginal supposito- nally.1-3 ries made from pomegranate seeds or rinds.14 Hippocrates (468-377 BCE), HISTORY AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE Dioscorides (40-90 CE), and Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037 Punica CE) also described the contraceptive use of pomegranate Pomegranate is one of only two species in the 14 genus; it was the sole genus in the Punicaceae family prior seeds or rinds. By the Middle Ages, though, pomegranates to its reclassification in Lythraceae.7 The generic epithet, had disappeared from medical writings for this purpose. Punica, is the feminized Latin name for Carthage, origi- Historically, pomegranate has been significant in several nally from the Greek Phoinix referring to the Phoenician cultures for its food and medicinal uses, as well as for its settlers around Carthage. The specific epithet, granatum, spiritual and artistic symbolism. The fruit was an extremely useful way of transporting liquid when traveling through means seedy or grainy. Prior to its renaming by Linnaeus in 7 the 18th century, the plant was known as Malum punicum, the desert. In addition to its juice, the arils (juicy pulp the apple of Carthage.7 covering the seeds) were and are a distinctive component In the 12th century, the Anglo-Norman name for the of certain Middle Eastern dishes: fesenjan (lamb or chicken fruit, pome gernate, became pume grenate in Old French and stew with walnuts and pomegranates), khosaf al-rumman eventually pomme grenade in Modern French.11 By the 15th (pomegranate with nuts and orange flower syrup), and pomegranate khoresh (stew), to name a few. www.herbalgram.org • 2013 • I SSUE 100 • 1 Pomegranate is mentioned as a remedy for roundworm in CURRENT AUTHORIZED USES IN the Ebers Papyrus (the oldest preserved medical document, COSMETICS, FOODS, AND MEDICINES 15 from Egypt, ca. 1500 BCE). Hippocrates used pomegran- In the Ayurvedic system of medicine (recognized in India, ate seed extracts for numerous ailments including skin and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Malaysia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka), the eye inflammation and as a digestive aid, while Dioscorides therapeutic uses of the different plant parts are similar to recommended various pomegranate parts, sometimes in what has been described previously, with some notable combination with other ingredients, for stomach ailments, exceptions: mouth and genital sores, gum disorders and loose teeth, 7 The fresh fruit juice of pomegranate at a dose of 15-30 as well as for expelling parasites. Treatment of bronchitis, mL is used in formulations for treating conditions including diabetes, diarrhea, hemorrhaging, leprosy, and snakebites 7 bleeding disorder (hemorrhagic diseases, i.e., bleeding with are all traditional uses of pomegranate. Both the dried fruit stools or from nose, excessive bleeding during menstruation, rind and pulp have been used commonly for upset stomachs or bleeding from any other part of the body without injury), and diarrhea, prepared as infusions (teas) or tinctures (alco- 3 burning sensation in the eyes, chest, palm and/or soles of holic extractions). feet (e.g., diabetic neuropathy); cough, diarrhea, fever, loss of Most parts of the pomegranate — including the flower, taste sensation, rheumatoid arthritis, and thirst.21 fruit rind, leaf, dried seed and fresh seed, root bark or trunk The dried and powdered fruit rind at a dose of 3-6 g is bark, fresh fruit and preparations thereof (e.g., juice) — have indicated for bleeding disorder and disorders of blood, burn- defined therapeutic applications in traditional medicine ing sensation, cough, diarrhea, dysentery, fever, halitosis systems such as Ayurveda, Siddha, gSo-ba Rig-pa (Tradi- (bad breath), hyperacidity of the stomach, loss of taste sensa- tional Bhutanese), Sowa-Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan), Tradi- tion, and throat diseases.21 tional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Traditional Iranian Medi- The dried leaf at a dose of 5-10 g is indicated for treatment cine, Unani, and European Homoeopathy. The fresh fruit of bleeding disorder, cough, diarrhea, digestive impairment, and fruit juice are used widely as foods and the juice also is dysentery, fever, helminthiasis (worm infestation), loss of used as a source of polyphenols. Essential oils, extracts, and taste sensation, and stomatitis (inflamed and sore mouth).21 waters of various plant parts, as well as isolates and deriva- Dried powdered pomegranate seeds are used in Ayurvedic tives such as pomegranate fruit peel extract octenylsucci- medicine at a recommended dose of 5-10 g for treatment of nate, seed oil hydroxyphenethyl esters, and sterols obtained burning sensation, fever, and morbid thirst.22 from the seed oil, are used as cosmetic ingredients. In the Unani system of medicine (recognized in Bangla- The flower, fruit, fruit rind, and seed of P. granatum L. desh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), various var. granatum are used specifically in Ayurveda, Siddha, pomegranate plant parts also have different therapeutic Sowa-Rigpa (Amchi), and Unani systems of traditional indications usually occurring as components of complex medicine in India, and in regional Indian folk medicines. formulations: The materials of commerce are obtained from both culti- The dried leaf at a dose of 5-10 g is used for diarrhea, chest vated and wild-collected sources.