Punica Granatum,

Linne.

The dried bark of the stems and roots, with not more than 2 p. c. of wood, foreign matter.

Habitat. S. W. Asia, India, Persia, Arabia, China, Japan, E. and W. Indies; naturalized in subtropics, S. United States, etc.; cultivated for fruit, ornamental flowers.

Syn. Granat., Pomegranate Bark, Grenadier, Punic (Carthaginian, Garnet) Apple; Granati Cortex; Fr. Ecorce de (Grenadier) Balaustier; Ger. Granatrinde.

Pu'ni-ca. L. punicus, of or belonging to Carthage, near which city it is said to have first been found, or fr. puniceus, scarlet - i. e., the color of its flowers.

Gra-na'tum. L. granatus, having many grains or seeds, fr. granum - i. e., the many-seeded fruit.

Pome'gran-ate. L. pomum, a fruit, + granatus, grained.

Plant. - Shrub or small tree, 4.5 M. (15°) high, branches angular, with spiny ends; young shoots and buds red; leaves 2.5-5 Cm. (1-2') long, shining, lanceolate, entire, half evergreen; flowers June-Sept., large; calyx shining, scarlet, tubular, 3 Cm. (1 1/5') long; corolla crimson, 5-7 petals; fruit (balausta), 5-10 Cm. (2-4') broad, resembles an orange, quince, or tomato, 5-8-angled over the dissepiments, short-necked at top. Internally, below the median line, divided by a diaphragm into two stories - upper with 5-9 irregular cells, lower and smaller with 1-3 vertical partitions (cells); seeds angular 12 Mm. (1/2') long, so numerous that they, with the thin surrounding edible pulp, fill entire fruit. Bark (stem), in somewhat flattened or transversely curved pieces, quills, 2-8 Cm. (4/5-3 1/5') long; bark .5-3.5 Mm. (1/50-1/5') thick, yellowish-brown, with grayish patches of foliaceous lichens with their brownish-black apothecia, longitudinally wrinkled, small elliptical lenticels, abraded patches of cork; inner surface yellowish-brown, finely striate; fracture short, smooth, inner bark yellowish-green; odor slight; taste astringent, bitter, nauseous; (root), transversely curved pieces, brownish-yellow, irregular patches of cork; internally

Fig. 269. - Punica Granatum: flower.

Fig. 270. - Punica Granatum: flowering branch.

dark yellow, medullary rays extending nearly to outer surface. Powder, yellowish-brown; microscopically - calcium oxalate rosette aggregates, numerous starch grains .002-.01 Mm. (1/12500-1/2500') broad, fragments of whitish cork, stone cells, long wood-fibres, tracheae. Tests: 1. Macerate for 1 hour 1 Gm. in distilled water 100 Ml. (Cc); add to 10 Ml. (Cc.) of yellow filtrate a drop of ferric chloride T. S. - bluish-black precipitate; to another 10 Ml. (Cc.) add 40-50 Ml. (Cc.) of lime water - orange-brown, flocculent precipitate. Should be kept in tightly-closed containers. Solvents: boiling water; diluted alcohol. Dose, 3ss-2 (2-8 Gm.).

Substitutions. - 1, Bux'us semper'virens, Boxwood Bark; 2, Ber-beris vulgaris, Barberry Bark; neither contain tannin, hence infusions do not precipitate blue-black with iron like pomegranate bark; they also are very bitter, and the former has a nearly white inner surface; 3, Granati Fractus Cortex; this contains tannin 19-28 p. c, extractive 21 p. c, gum 34 p. c, and has the same effect as the bark.

Fig. 271. - Punica Granatum: 1, longitudinal cross-section; 2, transverse cross-section; a, inner rind and ovules; c, the remaining calyx.

Commercial. - Root-bark is three times stronger in alkaloids than stem-bark, but both deteriorate rapidly with age owing to the alkaloids undergoing decomposition; the white-flowered plant yields the richest bark which is imported chiefly in the dry state from France, Italy, although we use much of our native product. In addition to the bark occasionally the flowers, fruit, rind, and acidulous seed-coating are employed domestically; some prefer the bark from uncultivated plants.

Constituents. - Tannic acid 20-22 p. c, Alkaloids 1.71 (black-flowered)-2.43 (red-flow-ered)-3.75 p. c. (white-flowered) - Pelletierine (punicine) .5-1.5 p. c, isopelletierine, methyl-pelletierine, pseudopelletierine (granatonine), mannite (punicin, granatin), gallic acid, sugar, gum, pectin, calcium oxalate, ash 10-16 p. c.

Tannic Acid, C20H16O13. - This is a mixture of gallotannic acid and punicotannic (granato-tannic) acid, the latter insoluble in alcohol, ether, precipitates gelatin, tartar emetic, iron salts, with dilute acids splits into sugar and ellagic acid.

Pelletierine, C8H15NO (in honor of Pelletier). - This is obtained by mixing bark with milk of lime, displacing with water, exhausting percolate with chloroform. It is regarded by Tanret, its discoverer, to be the anthelmintic constituent, and is a colorless, oily, aromatic alkaloid, resinifying on exposure, soluble in water, alcohol; forms crystalline salts (nitrate, sulphate, tannate, etc.) - considered to be a mixture of the several alkaloids. Dose, gr. 8-24 (.5-1.6 Gm.).

Fig. 272. - Granati cortex: bark of the root.

Pelletierinae Tannas, Pelletierine Tannate, official. - (Syn., Pellet. Tann., Punicine Tannate; Fr. Tannate de Pelletierine; Ger. Pelletieri-num tannicum, Gerbsaures (Pelletierin) Punicin.) This is a mixture in varying proportions of the tannates of four alkaloids (punicine, iso-punicine, methyl-punicine, pseudo-punicine), and is obtained by mixing ground bark with milk of lime, percolating with water until exhausted, shaking out percolate with chloroform, and chloroformic solution of free alkaloids with very dilute sulphuric acid; to neutral solution of mixed sulphates add solution tannic acid, whereby tannates are precipitated, dry. It is a light yellow, odorless, amorphous powder, astringent taste and weak acid reaction, soluble in water (240), alcohol (16), ether (420), warm dilute acids; insoluble in chloroform. Tests:

1. Aqueous solution with ferric chloride T. S. - blue-black color.

2. Cold solution of .1 Gm. in 4 Ml. (Cc.) of distilled water + 1 Ml. (Cc.) of diluted hydrochloric acid, + platinic chloride - no precipitate (abs. of foreign alkaloids). Should be kept dark, in small, well-closed containers. Dose, gr. 4-24 (.26-1.3 Gm.) in ℥j (30 Ml. (Cc.)) of water.

Preparations. - 1. Fluidextractum Granati. Fluidextract of Pomegranate. (Syn., Fldext. Granat., Fluid Extract of Pomegranate; Fr. Extrait fluide d'Ecorce de (Grenadier) Balaustier; Ger. Granat-rindenfluidextrakt.)

Manufacture: Similar to Fluidextractum Ergotae, page 60; 1st menstruum: alcohol 50 Ml. (Cc), water 40, glycerin 10; 2nd menstruum: diluted alcohol. Dose, 3ss-l (2-4 Ml. (Cc.)).

Unoff. Preps.: Decoctum Granati Corticis, 20 p. c, dose, ℥ss-2 (15-60 ML (Cc.)). Rind, dose, gr. 15-30 (1-2 Gm.).

Properties. - Anthelmintic, taenifuge, astringent.

Fig. 273. - Granati cortex: transverse section, magnified 10 diam.

Uses. - The ancients knew its value as a vermifuge (Celsus, Dios-corides, Pliny). In Hindustan, Mohammedan physicians used it in taenia, one of whom made public the secret in 1804; French physicians prefer the wild-grown plant. Externally and internally astringent; large doses occasion vomiting, purging, cramps, numbness in the legs, giddiness, dim vision, increased urine. The rind is also astringent in diarrhoea, leucorrhoea, hemorrhage, cancerous and other ulcers of uterus and rectum; intermittent fever. For tape-worm take decoction made by boiling bark ℥ij (60 Gm.) + water Ojss (.7 L.) down to Oj (.5 L.); give this in 3 divided doses at hour intervals in the morning on empty stomach. It is well, a couple of hours after administration, to follow with castor oil ℥j (30 Ml. (Cc.)) or compound tincture of jalap ℥j (30 Ml. (Cc.)). The worm should be passed sitting in a tepid sitz-bath, thus preventing the expelled portion tearing from the head by its weight; it passes usually in a knotted mass. Pomegranate may also be used for tanning, dyeing; the fruit as a refreshing, cooling article of food.