Pomegranate late 16th century and into California by Spanish settlers in 1769. Today, it is widely cultivated throughout the Middle East and Caucasus region, north and tropical Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, the drier parts of southeast Asia, and parts of the Mediterranean Basin. It is also cultivated in parts of Arizona and California. In the 20th and 21st centuries, it has become more common in the shops and markets of Europe and the Western Hemisphere. The name pomegranate derives from medieval Latin "pōmum" "apple" and "grānātum" "seeded". Possibly stemming from the old French word for the fruit, "pomme-grenade", the pomegranate
Apple glycosides must be hydrolyzed before the cyanide ion is released. The United States National Library of Medicine's Hazardous Substances Data Bank records no cases of amygdalin poisoning from consuming apple seeds. The proverb ""An apple a day keeps the doctor away"", addressing the health effects of the fruit, dates from 19th century Wales, according to Caroline Taggart, author of "An Apple a Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs and Why They Still Work". The original phrase, Taggart said, was: "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread". In the 19th century and early 20th, the