Answer:

1. Pomegranate -

(a)

an orange-sized fruit with a tough reddish outer skin and sweet red gelatinous flesh containing many seeds.

(b)

the tree that bears the pomegranate, which is native to North Africa and western Asia and has long been cultivated.

2. Merchants - a person or company involved in wholesale trade, especially one dealing with foreign countries or supplying merchandise to a particular trade. [Another word for 'merchant' (trader, vendor, seller, dealer, tradesman)]