Diagrams of a Pomegranate's flower, and of a Pomegranate's fruit

[alanmercieca]

The flowers

The following diagram shows the flower's 'sepals', unlike many other flowers, the flowers of pomegranates do not have green 'sepals', nor do they resemble green leaves. Pomegranate sepals turn in to the 'persistent calyx', found on top of pomegranate fruits.

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The flowers of a pomegranate bush, each of those flowers stores the plants very own sexual organs.

Here are the Petals of a male pomegranate flower.

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The receptacle of a pomegranate flower/a pomegranate fruit is where the flower/fruit attaches to the plant, and it's also where the 'Carpel' forms, 'Carpel' are the female sexual organs of the flowers, those female sexual organs are inside the flowers, see the receptacles in these two photos.

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The following diagram shows the top two parts of the 'Carpel', which are the 'style', and the 'stigma' of a flower. The 'stigma' is where pomegranate pollen needs to touch in order for fruit to develop. Pollen is a plant's version of sperm.

The following flower was in the 'intermediate' stage of a bisexual flower's development, which is when the female organs start to develop, which eventually can lead to a ripe fruit, at this point it's still long before this flower could turn in to edible fruit.

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This is what the 'intermediate' stage of a male bloom may look like, see the following two photos

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This is what those flowers looked like cut open, when a male bloom aborts in the intermediate blooming stage, that is caused by the flower's own inability to pollinate it's self, cross-pollination from another pomegranate plant can not help turn the flower in to fruit, since it's male. Oddly some male flowers do appear to start producing the place for the female parts, yet such male flowers are not capable of producing the actual female parts just the same.

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The 'perfect flower' blooming stage of a pomegranate bush, is when the 'intermediate blooming' stage of a bisexual flower has functioning female flower parts actually making the fruit. These flowers are often called 'perfect flower' because they are so well developed that they probably are going to turn in to a fruit.

Here is a flower in the 'perfect flower' blooming stage cut open, it's closer to a developed fruit, than the one in the photo above was. Despite the fact that it entered the 'perfect flower' blooming stage, the flower still aborted.

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Here is what this aborted 'perfect flower' looks like not cut open

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Here is another 'perfect flower' not cut open, it's 'sepals' were rotting from a fungus disease

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The 'perfect flower' blooms, are said to be of a vase-shape (urcerate), and as the 'perfect flower' blooms it turns more and more fruit like as they grow wider and wider at the backside of the flower, most of them successfully continue to do so until the flower turns in to a ripe fruit, see these photos to get a better understanding

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The following diagram shows the two parts of the 'stamen', which are the 'filament', and the 'anther' of a flower. The 'anther' is a sac full of pollen, pollen is a plant's version of sperm. These are found on all pomegranate flowers, and they even remain on the ripe fruit, inside the 'persistent calyx'!

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The flowers go from a 'perfect flower' bloom to a pomegranate fruit like this

The Pericarp of a pomegranate fruit is comprised of the 'leathery exocarp', of the 'fleshy mesocarp', and of the 'white endocarp'.

Peri means "to enclose", carp means "fruit". The Pericarp is the skin, and both the white parts of the fruit that encloses, and that protects the berry arils of the pomegranate fruits. from insects, from animals, and from outside conditions.


The following diagram shows the fruit's "leathery exocarp" (the leathery hull, the skin, the flavedo), as well as the "persistent calyx" (it is often called a crown, sometimes they do resemble a crown, a 'persistent calyx' transforms from the flower's sepals, and it still contains the 'stamen cluster')

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The following diagram shows the "fleshy mesocarp" (albedo, most of the white stuff)

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The following diagram shows the 'white endocarp' (membrane), which is the white part in between the Arils.

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The following diagram shows the "arils" (the arils are flesh, and juice covered seeds, in other words they are juicy flesh coated seeds)

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The male blooms, when the male flowers are open they look like a 'funnel-shaped bell' (campanulate).

When they have not opened yet they at first look like the 'Jingle Bells' kind of bells, then as they get longer, that 'Jingle Bells' shape moves up, making them look wide at the top 'top heavy'.

Most of the male flowers will fall off before developing any further. and the rest of them will turn in to intermediate flowers, and then fall off. These flowers are called male flowers for a reason, they can not properly develop female flower parts, even if they begin too.

Here are some photos of male flowers

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The bisexual blooms, the bisexual flowers are often said to be of a 'peanut shape' when they have not opened yet, at any size while they are closed. They are a vase-shape (urcerate) with a peanut shaped bottom, when they are open.

If the pomegranate bushes are properly hydrated, properly fed, and properly pollinated, then most of the bisexual flowers should turn in to fruit. Just like the male flowers they can abort at the intermediate stage.

The 'bisexual flowers' are often called 'unisexual flower', called 'hermaphroditic flower', and are inaccurately called 'female flower', any flower that produces fruit is often called 'female', because the seeds in it's fruit can produce new baby plants, even if it has male flower parts as well.

The intermediate flower blooms

I am almost 100% sure that there is not really an intermediate flower type, that they are just male blooms and bisexual blooms aborting more developed than many male flowers abort.