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This page is based on the 1993 Jepson Manual.
Please see the Jepson eFlora for up-to-date information about California vascular plants. |
| Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange |
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TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL |
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Jepson Interchange (more information) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Print edition is available from the University of California Press |
| The second edition of The Jepson Manual (2012) is available from the University of California Press | |
| See also the Jepson eFlora, which parallels the Second Edition |
Shrub, small tree, glabrous, sometimes thorny
Leaves simple, opposite, entire, deciduous
Inflorescence: axillary clusters; flowers 15
Flower bisexual, radial; hypanthium bell-shaped to cylindric, ± leathery; sepals 58, persistent, appearing as hypanthium lobes; petals 58, crumpled in bud (and often in flower); stamens many, inserted along hypanthium tube; ovary inferior, chambers generally 38, irregular, style 1, stigma 1, head-like
Fruit: berry, ± spheric, leathery-rinded, divided into irregular sections
Seeds many, embedded in juicy pulp
Genera in family: 1 genus, ± 1 sp.: Medit, ne Africa, to Himalayas. Seeds edible.
Species in genus: 1 variable sp
Etymology: (Latin: "Apple of Carthage")
| Introduced |
Stem < 5 m
Leaf: blade 28 cm, oblong or ovate-lanceolate, >> petiole
Flower 35 cm wide; hypanthium ± brownish red; petals coral-red
Fruit generally 810 cm wide, bright orange-red
Seeds ruby-red
Ecology: Uncommon. Disturbed ground
Elevation: < 500 m.
Bioregional distribution: s San Joaquin Valley, s Central Coast, n South Coast
Distribution outside California: native se Europe to Himalayas
Long, widely cultivated in warm areas, often naturalized; fermented seeds source of grenadine; dwarf and double-flowered forms cultivated as ornamental; persistent calyx on fruit inspired King Solomon's crown (hence others).
| YOU CAN HELP US make sure that our distributional information is correct and current. If you know that a plant occurs in a wild, reproducing state in a Jepson bioregion NOT highlighted on the map, please contact us with that information. Please realize that we cannot incorporate range extensions without access to a voucher specimen, which should (ultimately) be deposited in an herbarium. You can send the pressed, dried collection (with complete locality information indicated) to us (e-mail us for details) or refer us to an accessioned herbarium specimen. Non-occurrence of a plant in an indicated area is difficult to document, but we will especially value your input on those types of possible errors (see automatic conversion of distribution data to maps). |
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