"[Plin. Nat. 23.57.] - PUNIC APPLES OR POMEGRANATES: TWENTY-SIX REMEDIES.
It would be a mere loss of time to recapitulate the nine different varieties of the pomegranate. The sweet pomegranates, or, in other words, those known by the name of “apyrena,” are generally considered to be injurious to the stomach; they are productive, also, of flatulency, and are bad for the teeth and gums. The kind which closely resembles the last in flavour, and which we have spoken of as the “vinous” pomegranate, has very diminutive pips, and is thought to be somewhat more wholesome than the others. They have an astringent effect upon the stomach and bowels, provided they are taken in moderation, and not to satiety; but even these, or, indeed, any other kind, should never be given in fevers, as neither the substance nor the juice of the fruit acts otherwise than injuriously under those circumstances. They should, also, be equally abstained from in cases of vomiting and bilious evacuations.
In this fruit Nature has revealed to us a grape, and, so to say, not must, but a wine ready made, both grape and wine being enclosed in a tougher skin. The rind of the sour pomegranate is employed for many purposes. It is in very common use with curriers for tanning leather, from which circumstance it has received the name of “malicorium.” Medical men assure us that the rind is diuretic, and that, boiled with nut-galls in vinegar, it strengthens loose teeth in the sockets. It is prescribed also for pregnant women when suffering from qualmishness, the flavour of it quickening the fœtus. A pomegranate is cut, and left to soak in rain-water for some three days; after which the infusion is given cold to persons suffering from cœliac affections and spitting of blood.”
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)

"[Plin. Nat. 23.59.] - CYTINUS: EIGHT REMEDIES.
The Greeks have given the name of cytinus to the first germs of this tree when it is just beginning to blossom. These germs have a singular property, which has been remarked by many. If a person, after taking off everything that is fastened upon the body, his girdle, for instance, shoes, and even his ring, plucks one of them with two fingers of the left hand, the thumb, namely, and the fourth finger, and, after rubbing it gently round his eyes, puts it into his mouth and swallows it without letting it touch his teeth, he will experience, it is said, no malady of the eyes throughout all the year. These germs, dried and pounded, check the growth of fleshy excrescences; they are good also for the gums and teeth; and if the teeth are loose a decoction of the germs will strengthen them.
The young pomegranates themselves are beaten up and applied as a liniment to spreading or putrid sores; they are used also for inflammations of the eyes and intestines, and nearly all the purposes for which pomegranate-rind is used. They are remedial also for the stings of scorpions.”
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)

"[Plin. Nat. 23.60.] - BALAUSTIUM: TWELVE REMEDIES.
We cannot sufficiently admire the care and diligence displayed by the ancients, who, in their enquiries into every subject, have left nothing untried. Within the cytinus, before the pomegranate itself makes its appearance, there are diminutive flowers, the name given to which, as already stated, is “balaustium.” These blossoms, even, have not escaped their enquiries; it having been ascertained by them that they are an excellent remedy for stings inflicted by the scorpion. Taken in drink, they arrest the catamenia, and are curative of ulcers of the mouth, tonsillary glands, and uvula, as also of spitting of blood, derangement of the stomach and bowels, diseases of the generative organs, and running sores in all parts of the body.
The ancients also dried these blossoms, to try their efficacy in that state, and made the discovery that, pulverized, they cure patients suffering from dysentery when at the very point of death even, and that they arrest looseness of the bowels. They have not disdained, too, to make trial of the pips of the pomegranate: parched and then pounded, these pips are good for the stomach, sprinkled in the food or drink. To arrest looseness of the bowels, they are taken in rain-water. A decoction of the juices of the root, in doses of one victoriatus, exterminates tape-worm; and the root itself, boiled down in water to a thick consistency, is employed for the same purposes as lycium.”
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)