Pomegranate's description
A small, multi-stemmed deciduous shrub or tree that normally grows to 2 to 5 m tall but is capable of growing up to 10 m in optimal environmental condition. Canopy is open and crown base is low. Stem is woody and spiny. Bark is dark grey in colour and smooth. Slender branches start out upright then droop gracefully and unpruned shrubs have a drooping or fountain- shaped habit. Leaves are simple, 2 to 8 cm long, oblong or obovate in shape, shiny, opposite in arrangement or arranged in whorls of five or six. Flowers are large, showy, trumpet shaped and borne singly or as many as five in a cluster at the tips of the branches. Flowers are characterized by the presence of thick, tubular, red-coloured calyx with five to eight pointed sepals forming a vase from which emerge the three to seven wrinkled, orange-red or white or variegated petals. Fruit is a globose berry and shiny, tough, leathery with reddish- or yellowish- coloured rind when matured and crowned at the base by persistent calyx. Fruit is divided into compartments by membranous walls and spongy tissue, filled with numerous seeds. Each seed is encased in a juicy, somewhat acidic, red, pink or whitish pulp. Seeds are angular, soft or hard, white or red in colour.
