swingle: botanical name of the lime 465 



Houttuyn. The fact that Houttuyn's name was preoccupied and 

 consequently untenable was doubtless realized by Christmann, 

 altho he makes no mention of his reasons for changing the name. 

 His description and citations of older literature, practically trans- 

 lated from Houttuyn, are ample to establish Limonia aurantifolia 

 as a valid species. 



The name Citrus lima was published by John Lunan in 18 14^ 

 for the common lime and has been recently revived by Percy 

 Wilson (North America Flora, 25:222, 1911). This name is a 

 homonym, however, since it was used for the common lemon by 

 Alexander Aitcheson before ISOG.^*^ 



The name Citrus limetta Risso, commonly applied to the lime, 

 was published by Risso in ISIS^^ but refers distinctly to a va- 

 riety of sweet lime having an abnormal fruit, probably a garden 

 variety of hybrid origin and certainly not a true lime. This be- 

 ing the type of Risso's species, his name cannot properly be ap- 

 plied to the common acid lime. 



The subsequently published names for the lime, such as Cit- 

 rus spinosissima Meyer^^ 1818, C. acida Roxburg^^ 1832, C. Not- 

 issimus Blanco," 1837, C. Limonellus HasskarP^ 1842, and the 

 many varietal names under the various specific names for the 

 citron, the lemon or Citrus histrix, D.C. need not be discussed 

 here as Christmann's name has priority over all of them. 



The oldest tenable name for the lime is therefore Christmann's 

 Limonia aurantifolia which upon being transferred to Citrus, be- 

 comes Citrus aurantifolia (Christm.) n. comb.^* 



5 Lunan, John, 1814, Hortus Jamaicensis, Jamaica, 2 : 451-452. 

 1° [Aitchison, Alexander], 18 (?), in Encyclopaedia Perthensis, 2 ed. (?) Perth. 

 5: G86. The "New and Complete American Encyclopaedia. . . . From the 

 Encyclopaedia Perthensis with Improvements," New York (John Low), 1805, 

 2: 578, gives a verbatim reprint of the description of Citrus lima in the edition 

 cited above. 



" Risso, A., 1813, in Ann. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. Paris, 20: 195, pi. 2, fig. 1. 



12 Meyer, G. F. W., 1818, Primitae Flora Essequeboensis, Gottingen, p. 247. 



13 Roxburgh, W., 1832, Flora indica, Serampore, 3: 390. 

 '" Hasskarl, J. C, 1842, Flora, 25, 2 (Beibl.): 43 



1^ Blanco, M., 1837, Flora de Filipinas,. Manila, p. 607. 



18 The genus Limonia was founded on plants with pinnate leaves. The specific 

 name aurantifolia of Christmann undoubtedly means having orange-like leaves 

 in contrast with the original Limonia acidissima of Linnaeus (the L. -pinnalifolia 

 of Houttuyn and of Christmann). 



