introducing: the Dwarf Pomegranate
If you have visited us at Niche in the past week, you may have noticed some sweet little shrubs winking at you with their vibrant blossoms of a blood-orange hue or beckoning
introducing: the Dwarf Pomegranate
If you have visited us at Niche in the past week, you may have noticed some sweet little shrubs winking at you with their vibrant blossoms of a blood-orange hue or beckoning with their developing fruit. These are Dwarf Pomegranate plants, botanical name Punica granatum var. nana.
winter & spring: PUNICA GRANATUM in mythology
This past week in Boston, we felt the brush of Spring as temperatures climbed above the 70º mark, but are now reluctantly retreating to our parkas as the the mercury drops gradually back down to the freezing point. As we seem to have one foot in Winter and one in Spring, it's fitting to feature these members of the Punica genus, whose fruit are linked with this transition in Greek and Roman mythology.
According to the myth, Hades (god of the Underworld) abducted Persephone. Upon her arrival in the Underworld, Persephone refused all food and drink, knowing that if she consumed anything that she would be eternally trapped in the nether realm. Meanwhile, Persephone's mother Demeter (goddess of the harvest) was so grief-stricken that the earth grew cold, crops ceased to produce and world plunged into a state of famine. Eventually, Hades reluctantly agreed to return Persephone to her mother, but before their departure, he offered her a ripe, red pomegranate. Persephone ate six seeds, binding her to return to the Underworld for six months out of the year. Thus, every year, when Persephone descends to Hades' domain, Demeter enters a state of depression, causing the period of plant dormancy we know as winter. Six months later, when Persephone returns to the world above, so too do the flowering meadows and green growths of Spring.
ABOUT PUNICA GRANATUM
P. granatum is native to the area of Iran and is now found widely throughout the Mediterranean and around the world in comparable climates. A defining characteristic of the fruit is its thick protective shell, which is hard to digest, making it more likely that the seeds will pass directly through an animal's digestive tract and be deposited back into the environment unharmed to produce a new plant. P. granatum's limbs are peppered with thorns, an adaptation developed to prevent opportunistic animalia from clambering to the ends of the branches to eat the fruit before maturation. Members of P. granatum also have an impressive lifespan, with some trees surviving for over 200 years in the right conditions.
The pomegranate is abundant in antioxidants, which are thought to help reduce the risk of certain diseases, earning it the title of "superfruit" (it's pertin