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Punica protopunica
Also called Socotran Pomegranate
Punica protopunica, the Socotran pomegranate, is a thorny tree endemic to the Yemeni island of Socotra and the wild ancestor of the pomegranate. It is rarely grown outside its native dry forest range, so care advice relies mainly on general knowledge of pomegranate-type trees.
Punica protopunica, commonly known as the pomegranate tree or Socotran pomegranate, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lythraceae. It is endemic to the island of Socotra (Yemen). Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.
The tree, often thorny, attains a height of 2.5 to 4.5 m (8 ft 2 in to 14 ft 9 in). It has reddish-brown bark when young, fading to grey as it ages and becomes less fruitful. Leaves are dark green, glossy, and opposite, growing up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long. The fruit are globose and 2–3 cm in diameter. Flowers and fruits occur from December and January through to the summer.
In addition to its natural distribution in Socotra, it has also been planted in Hawaii at the Koko Crater Botanical Garden.
The skins of the fruit are crushed and cooked, and the paste is applied to treat sores and wounds. Alternatively, they are dried and crushed to a powder, which is applied topically to treat skin sores in the same way. Occasionally, people eat the seeds as a purge to relieve stomachache. More recently, people have started using the skins to treat stomach complaints and expel worms, a treatment apparently learned from the mainland.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Punica protopunica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
