THE OBANGffi AffD ITS ALLIES. 181 



Spain and Africa. The Italian " Adam's Apple," really 

 a lemon, whether judged by form or flavour, was particu- 

 larly noticed by Jacques Vitry, who describes " a tree 

 bearing beautiful citron-coloured apples, on which the 

 marks of a man's teeth could be distinctly perceived ;" and 

 the skin is indeed covered with little irregular indented 

 curves, conveying no inapt idea of having been bitten, 

 whence the miracle-mongering Crusaders very naturally 

 concluded that it could be no other than that 



"Fruit, whose mortal taste 

 Brought death into the world and all our woe." 



Another variety, the Limonia lawreola, is remarkable 

 as being the only hardy plant of the whole orange tribe, 

 it being found on the tops of cold and lofty mountains, 

 where for some months of the year it lies buried under 

 snow. The hill people of India fancy that it is by feeding 

 on the leaves of this plant that the musk acquires its pe- 

 culiar odour. What we call the Lime (Citrus acida) is 

 also only a variety of the lemon, according to Eisso, who 

 calls it the Limonier sauvage, or Wild Lemon, and the 

 name is justified by the very thorny character of the tree, 

 these cruel appendages often distinguishing wild plants 

 and disappearing under cultivation. It has been long 

 grown in the West Indies both as a fence and for the 

 sake of its fruit, which is nearly round, with a nipple at 

 the summit more distinctly raised on one side than on 

 the other, a greenish yellow, very odorous rind, and juicy 

 pulp, extremely acid but of fine flavour. The Lemon in 

 general is equally valued for its rind and its juice, from 

 which the citric acid of commerce is prepared, which, 

 besides its numerous culinary uses, is barrelled in large 

 quantities to be added to ship stores as the most effica- 

 cious preventive of sea-scurvy. The tree, which is re- 

 markably knotty and of vigorous growth, though its 

 foliage is less thick than that of the orange, was first 

 grown in England at Oxford, in 1648, and though more 

 tender than other plants of the family, when duly cared 

 for it thrives well in this country, some of the lemons 

 grown at Luscombe measuring from 18 in. in circumfe- 

 rence, and weighing as much as 14 oz. 



