Wonderful Pomegranate

Wonderful was selected in Porterville, California, in 1896 — the late 19th century, not the early 20th century as sometimes repeated — from scionwood that itself originated in Florida. It went on to become so completely dominant in American commercial pomegranate production that it is essentially the default variety behind nearly every fresh pomegranate and pomegranate juice product sold in US grocery stores today, a level of single-variety market dominance rivaled by few other fruit crops. Notably, Porterville, California, also produced at least one other real, documented pomegranate variety: a naturally occurring sport of Wonderful itself, discovered on a nearby ranch in 1969, which ripens about ten days earlier than standard Wonderful and shows a more vivid red coloration.