Punica Granatum, Pomegranate, Anar - 0.5 kg Seeds

Pomegranate or Anar (Punica granatum) is a hardy, long-lived deciduous shrub or small tree grown for its jewel-like, ruby-seeded fruit. It carries glossy narrow leaves and showy orange-red tubular flowers, and tolerates heat, drought and poor soils once established.

Widely cultivated across the dry plains and semi-arid belts of India, especially Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka, it is valued as a commercial fruit crop, an ornamental hedge plant and a medicinal species, the fruit rind, seeds and bark all featuring in traditional Ayurvedic remedies. It also makes an attractive flowering specimen and informal screen.

• Family: Lythraceae
• Native region: Iran to the north-western Himalaya
• Mature height: 3-6 m
• Growth rate: moderate

Clean the seeds free of pulp and soak them in water for 24-48 hours before sowing. Sow about 1 cm deep in a free-draining seed-tray mix and keep warm and lightly moist; germination takes around 14-21 days. Note that seed-raised plants are variable, so transplant the strongest seedlings once 10-15 cm tall and grow on in full sun.