Ornamental pomegranate

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JTh

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Ornamental pomegranate
« on: July 18, 2011, 10:10:57 PM »
One of my pomegranate bushes in Greece is purely ornamental, it produces no fruits, but the flowers are quite showy, orange-pink with pale edges, extremely filled, up to 7-8 cm in diameter, I have no idea what this cultivar is  named. Today I discovered a strange flower, there seems to be a bud in the middle of the flower, and I wonder if anybody else has seen this strange phenomenon, see photo.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

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Alisdair

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Re: Ornamental pomegranate
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2011, 07:19:47 AM »
What a lovely flower, Jorun!
That "bud" looks as if it may be made up of petalloid stamens, malformed stamens which instead of developing normally are trying to turn into something more like petals. That abnormality does crop up from time to time in other flowers and can be either beautiful (as in your pomegranate) or rather hideous!
It would be extremely interesting to find out whether in your case this is just a freak affecting that single flower, or a mutation affecting the wood from which the flower has developed - in which case you might perhaps be able to take a cutting and perpetuate it.
Though quite a few distinct ornamental cultivars of the dwarf pomegranate have been developed, named cultivars of the full-sized shrub or tree are almost always known for their fruit quality rather than their flowers.
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

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JTh

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Re: Ornamental pomegranate
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2011, 09:18:48 AM »
This is definitely not a dwarf form, it is nearly 3 m tall, it produces lots of flowers but never any fruits, I bought it as an ornamental tree. I now see that there is another flower on the same branch with a bud in the center as well. The bud inside the one I photographed yesterday has now opened up and the flower is nearly 10 cm in diameter. On other branches there are up to three flowers bunched together so that they seem to be one gigantic flower. The leaves are shiny and much darker green and thicker than on the regular fruit-producing pomegranates.
Pomegranates seem to thrive well here in Halkidiki (northern Greece), in spite of lack of water and rather poor, rocky, clayey soil.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

David Bracey

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Re: Ornamental pomegranate
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2011, 10:31:49 AM »
You may like to look at http://www.globalsciencebooks.info/JournalsSup/images/Sample/FVCSB_4%28SI2%2926-34o.pdf.  This describes "Pomegranate Breeding".  Some of is a bit heavy however there is a lot of information about pomegranate flower variation.

David
MGS member.

 I have gardened in sub-tropical Florida, maritime UK, continental Europe and the Mediterranean basin, France. Of the 4 I have found that the most difficult climate for gardening is the latter.

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JTh

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Re: Ornamental pomegranate
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2011, 05:14:08 PM »
Thank you; David, it was interesting to  read that ‘The functionally sterile flowers, however, yield fruits when manually pollinated (Jalikop 2007)’, maybe I should try this?
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

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anita

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Re: Ornamental pomegranate
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2011, 10:55:53 AM »
There are a number of ornamental pomegranates that can be found occassionally in cultivation in old gardens in Australia. The Adelaide Botanic Garden has a number of different cultivars providing shade near it's cafe. The cultivar in your photograph is known as Madame Legrelle. There is also a lovely double white and a double orange. They are usually propagated from cuttings. I'm a regular visitor to the gardens and have never seen fruit on any of the trees. They make lovely drought resistant informal hedges.
Checkout  http://seedscatterer.blogspot.com/2010/05/pomegranate-who-was-madame-legrelle.html for pictures of the tree.
Dry mediterranean climate, avg annual rainfall 530mm, little or no frost. Winter minimum 1C, summer max 45C

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JTh

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Re: Ornamental pomegranate
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2011, 05:47:46 PM »
Thank you, Anita, now I know the proper variety name of at least one of my plants in the garden, they are always sold without any proper names around here.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.