Species
+

Punica granatum L.

Granatapfel (DE); Granada (ES); Pomegranate (EN), Keralladang, Malgaragno, Malgaragno/Magragno

Climate known 76 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

The pomegranate is a fruit-bearing, deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows to between 1.5–5 metres (5–16 ft) tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it originated in the region spanning the Caucasus and the Iranian plateau — including modern-day Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pomegranate was first domesticated by ancient Iranians in the Iranian plateau and nearby regions about 5,000 years ago. It is extensively cultivated for its fruit.

Text from Wikipedia, “Pomegranate”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Punica

Punica is a small genus of fruit-bearing deciduous shrubs or small trees in the flowering plant family Lythraceae. The better known species is the pomegranate. The other species, the Socotra pomegranate, is endemic to the island of Socotra. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Punica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Lythraceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, North Caucasus +6
Wild records
61 in range· 38 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Aug, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
665mm/yr
8 wet months · peak Dec 120 mm (CHELSA)
Light
12–48DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to March in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 665 mm a year, wettest December at 120 mm, driest July at 6 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 48 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 0.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Granatum punicum (L.) St.-Lag.; Punica florida Salisb.; Punica granatum f. albescens (DC.) Rehder; Punica granatum f. flavescens (Sweet) Rehder; Punica granatum f. legrelliae (Lem.) Rehder and 32 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to March in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (480 mm of 665 mm) falls in November to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 8.2 °C against a yearly mean of 15.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 665 mm a year, wettest December at 120 mm, driest July at 6 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

665 mm a year at the habitat, 480 mm of it November to March. Wettest month December at 120 mm, driest July at 6 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 398 mm to 1242 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 48 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 0.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 0.9 °C, the absolute minimum -3.3 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 3.7 °C in February (across the envelope cells -3.0 °C to 9.1 °C), warmest day 27.8 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Aug; mean night from 4 °C in Feb to 21 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Jan to Mar, is the three months around the coldest night. 665 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 58 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -3.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-3.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 12–48RH 55–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 58 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 5–149 / 6–1412 / 8–1617 / 13–2021 / 18–2525 / 22–3128 / 25–3428 / 25–3324 / 22–3020 / 18–2514 / 12–1910 / 7–15
Night °C4 / -3–104 / -3–95 / 1–129 / 6–1414 / 11–1718 / 15–2121 / 18–2421 / 18–2518 / 14–2214 / 9–199 / 4–146 / -2–11
Rain mm105 / 20–23587 / 27–16872 / 40–12653 / 30–10634 / 17–9513 / 2–916 / 0–847 / 0–8519 / 7–7553 / 31–11696 / 38–200120 / 24–259
DLI15 / 11–1820 / 16–2429 / 24–3337 / 31–4044 / 37–4748 / 41–5147 / 41–5143 / 36–4635 / 28–3824 / 19–2816 / 12–2012 / 9–16
RH %60 / 55–6459 / 54–6459 / 55–6359 / 53–6258 / 50–6256 / 47–6255 / 46–6256 / 46–6257 / 49–6159 / 52–6260 / 53–6361 / 55–64

Each figure is the median across the 58 grid cells holding the 59 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 936:4407 (43.175, 40.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 58 distinct grid cells holding the 59 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 936:4407 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 43.00_40.625, lapse-corrected +6 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 56 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeTurkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan· introduced: Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Niger, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Free State, St.Helena, Comoros, Réunion, Uzbekistan, East Aegean Is., Lebanon-Syria, Oman, Yemen, China South-Central, Korea, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Vietnam, Norfolk Is., New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., California, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Mexico Central, Panama, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Turks-Caicos Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Ecuador
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker37.689, 26.94 · in the densest population, 28 records (46% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 61 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 38 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 151 km away. 1842 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 61 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Punica granatumPunica granatumPunica granatumPunica granatumPunica granatumPunica granatumPunica granatumPunica granatum

Photographs: (c) Proteros, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Daniel Capilla, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Bonnie Semmling, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Punica granatum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antibacterial activity of plant extracts and phytochemicals on antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Gislene G. F. Nascimento, Juliana Locatelli, Paulo Chanel Deodato de Freitas, Giuliana L. Silva (2000) · Brazilian Journal of Microbiology
Punica granatum (pomegranate) and its potential for prevention and treatment of inflammation and cancer
Ephraim Philip Lansky, Robert A. Newman (2006) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Studies on the Antioxidant Activity of Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Peel and Seed Extracts Using in Vitro Models
Ravindra Pal Singh, Kotamballi N. Chidambara Murthy, G.K. Jayaprakasha (2001) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Screening of some plants used in the Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases
Fabíola Holetz, Greisiele Lorena Pessini, Neviton Rogério Sanches, Diógenes Aparı́cio Garcia Cortez (2002) · Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Antimicrobial activity of some plant extracts against bacterial strains causing food poisoning diseases
Ashraf Abdеl-Fattah Mostafa, Abdulaziz A. Al–Askar, Khalid S. Almaary, Turki M. Dawoud (2017) · Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
Pomegranate and its Many Functional Components as Related to Human Health: A Review
Manuel Viuda‐Martos, Juana Fernández‐López, José Ángel Pérez‐Álvarez (2010) · Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety
Antimicrobial activity of some ethnomedicinal plants used by Paliyar tribe from Tamil Nadu, India
Veeramuthu Duraipandiyan, Muniappan Ayyanar, S. Ignacimuthu (2006) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Comparison of Antioxidant Potency of Commonly Consumed Polyphenol-Rich Beverages in the United States
Navindra P. Seeram, Michael Aviram, Yanjun Zhang, Susanne M. Henning (2008) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Antimicrobial activity of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit peels
Najeeb S. Al-zoreky (2009) · International Journal of Food Microbiology
Antioxidant Activities of Pomegranate Fruit Extract and Its Anthocyanidins: Delphinidin, Cyanidin, and Pelargonidin
Yasuko Noda, Takao Kaneyuki, Akitane Mori, Lester Packer (2001) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 93 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.