Editing Pomegranate (section)

== History ==
[[File:Pomegranate LACMA M.81.61.5.jpg|thumb|''Pomegranate'', late Southern [[Song dynasty]] or early [[Yuan dynasty]] ''circa'' 1200–1340 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)]]
The pomegranate is native to a region from modern-day Iran to northern India.<ref name="Purdue"/> Pomegranates have been cultivated throughout the Middle East, India, and the Mediterranean region for several millennia, and it is also cultivated in the [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]] of California and in Arizona.<ref name="Purdue"/><ref>{{cite book |author=Doijode, S. D. |title=Seed storage of horticultural crops |publisher=Food Products Press |location=New York |year=2001 |page=77 |isbn=978-1-56022-883-7 }}</ref><ref name="ripley1875">{{Cite book | title=The American cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge, Volume 13 |author1=George Ripley |author2=Charles Anderson Dana | year=1875 | publisher=Appleton | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_UXAQAAIAAJ | quote=... frequent reference is made to it in the Mosaic writings, and sculptured representations of the fruit are found on the ancient monuments of Egypt and in the Assyrian ruins. It is found in a truly wild state only in northern India ...}}</ref> Pomegranates may have been domesticated as early as the fifth millennium BC, as they were one of the first fruit trees to be domesticated in the eastern Mediterranean region.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Domestication of plants in the old world: The origin and spread of domesticated plants in south-west Asia|last1=Zohary|first1=Daniel|last2=Hopf|first2=Maria|last3=Weiss|first3=Ehud|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780199549061|edition=4th|location=Oxford|pages=114–115}}</ref>

Carbonized [[exocarp]] of the fruit has been identified in [[early Bronze Age]] levels of [[Tell es-Sultan|Tell es-Sultan (Jericho)]] in the [[West Bank]], as well as [[late Bronze Age]] levels of [[Hala Sultan Tekke]] on Cyprus and [[Tiryns]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Pomegranates: ancient roots to modern medicine |last=Still |first=D. W. |editor1-last=Seeram |editor1-first=Navindra P. |editor2-last=Schulman |editor2-first=Risa N. |editor3-last=Heber |editor3-first=David |year=2006 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-8493-9812-4 |pages=199–2010 |chapter=Pomegranate: A botanical perspective |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2yGXy6jVFbYC&pg=PA168}}</ref> A large, dry pomegranate was found in the tomb of [[Djehuty (overseer of the treasury)|Djehuty]], the butler of Queen [[Hatshepsut]] in Egypt; [[Mesopotamian]] records written in [[cuneiform]] mention pomegranates from the mid-third millennium BC onwards.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Hopf, Maria |author2=Zohary, Daniel |title=Domestication of plants in the old world: the origin and spread of cultivated plants in West Asia, Europe, and the Nile Valley |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |year=2000 |page=171 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-0-19-850356-9 }}</ref>
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Greekterracottapomegranate.jpg|thumb|218.993x218.993px|A Greek terracotta pomegranate, sculpted around the 5th century B.C.]] -->
Waterlogged pomegranate remains have been identified at the circa 14th century BC [[Uluburun shipwreck]] off the coast of Turkey.<ref name="Ward-2003">{{Cite journal|last=Ward|first=Cheryl|date=February 2003|title=Pomegranates in eastern Mediterranean contexts during the Late Bronze Age|journal=World Archaeology|volume=34 |issue=3|pages=529–541|jstor=3560202|doi=10.1080/0043824021000026495|s2cid=161775993}}</ref> Other goods on the ship include perfume, [[ivory]] and gold jewelry, suggesting that pomegranates at this time may have been considered a luxury good.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ward Haldane|first=Cheryl|date=March 1990|title=Shipwrecked plant remains|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume=53 |issue=1|pages=55–60|jstor=3210160|doi=10.2307/3210160|s2cid=165441573}}</ref> Other archaeological finds of pomegranate remains from the Late [[Bronze Age]] have been found primarily in elite residences, supporting this inference.<ref name="Ward-2003" />

It is also extensively grown in southern China and Southeast Asia, whether originally spread along the [[Silk Road]] route or brought by sea traders. [[Kandahar]] is famous in Afghanistan for its high-quality pomegranates.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://afghanag.ucdavis.edu/a_horticulture/fruits-trees/pomegranate|publisher=University of California at Davis, International Programs|title=Pomegranate — Afghan Agriculture|website=afghanag.ucdavis.edu|date=2013|access-date=17 February 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205174822/http://afghanag.ucdavis.edu/a_horticulture/fruits-trees/pomegranate|archive-date=5 December 2016}}</ref>

Although not native to Korea or Japan, the pomegranate is widely grown there and many cultivars have been developed. It is widely used for [[bonsai]] because of its flowers and for the unusual twisted bark the older specimens can attain.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900240228&isize=L |title=History of Science: Cyclopædia, or, A universal dictionary of arts and sciences |publisher=Digicoll.library.wisc.edu |access-date=14 June 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406075553/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900240228&isize=L |archive-date=6 April 2012 }}</ref> The term "balaustine" ({{langx|la|balaustinus}}) is also used for a pomegranate-red color.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Osborne, Roy |author2=Pavey, Don |title=On Colours 1528: A Translation from Latin |publisher=Universal Publishers |location=Parkland, Fla |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-58112-580-1 }}</ref>

[[File:Escudo de España (mazonado).svg|thumb|left|Coat of arms of Spain with a pomegranate at the bottom, symbolizing the [[Kingdom of Granada (Crown of Castile)|kingdom of Granada]].]]
<!-- [[File:Arms of Granada- Coat of Arms of Spain Template.svg|left|upright|thumb|Coat of arms of Granada]] -->
Spanish colonists later introduced the fruit to the [[Caribbean]] and America ([[Spanish America]]). However, in the [[British America|English colonies]], it was less at home: "Don't use the pomegranate inhospitably, a stranger that has come so far to pay his respects to thee," the English Quaker [[Peter Collinson (botanist)|Peter Collinson]] wrote to the botanizing [[John Bartram]] in [[Philadelphia]], 1762. "Plant it against the side of thy house, nail it close to the wall. In this manner it thrives wonderfully with us, and flowers beautifully, and bears fruit this hot year. I have twenty-four on one tree... [[John Fothergill (physician)|Doctor Fothergill]] says, of all trees this is most [[:wikt:salutiferous|salutiferous]] to mankind."<ref>{{cite book |last=Leighton |first=Ann |title=American gardens in the eighteenth century: "for use or for delight" |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |location=Amherst |year=1986 |page=242 |isbn=978-0-87023-531-3 }}</ref>
[[File:Illustration Punica granatum2.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration by [[Otto Wilhelm Thomé]], 1885]]
The pomegranate had been introduced as an exotic to England the previous century, by [[John Tradescant the Elder]], but the disappointment that it did not set fruit there led to its repeated introduction to the American colonies, even New England. It succeeded in the South: Bartram received a barrel of pomegranates and oranges from a correspondent in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], South Carolina, 1764. John Bartram partook of "delitious" pomegranates with [[Noble Jones]] at [[Wormsloe Plantation]], near [[Savannah, Georgia]], in September 1765. [[Thomas Jefferson]] planted pomegranates at [[Monticello]] in 1771; he had them from [[George Wythe]] of [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]].{{sfnp|Leighton|1986|p=272}}