C I T 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



C I T 



315 



4. Citharexylum Villosum ; Hairy-leaved Fiildlewoot 

 Leaves villose. This is a small tree, about ten feet in heighl 

 The trunk and older branches are round and ash-coloured 

 the younger ones four-cornered and green ; the young shoot 

 are villose ; racemes half a foot long, hanging down nt thi 

 ends of the branchlets; flowers numerous, on snort pedicels 

 viilose all over, and smelling extremely sweet ; calix trun- 

 cate ; corolla white. Native of St. Domingo. 



5. Cithurexylum Melanocardium ; Black-heart Fiddlewood 

 Branches quadrangular; racemes terminating, compound 

 flowers four-staaiined. This tree frequently rises to the 

 height of forty or fifty feet, and is generally looked upon as 

 one of the hardest and best timber-trees ; the body grows 

 to a considerable thickness, and is covered with a thick 

 whitish bark, which, like the grain of the wood, winds in a 

 loose spiral form ; the leaves are pretty long, rugged, anc 

 slightly serrate ; the flowers are disposed in bunches at the 

 extremities of the branches ; the berries are small and yellow, 

 and are sometimes eaten by the negroes ; they contain each 

 two hemispheric shells with two kernels, and the nuts may 

 easily be parted into two lobes or segments. Native of Ja- 

 maica, chiefly in the low lands and savannas. Mr. Miller 

 informs .us, that the French call this tree fidele, from its 

 faithfulness or durability in building ; and that the English 

 have corrupted the name tofiddlewood, as if it were used for 

 making musical instruments, which is a mistake. 



Citrus; a genus of the class Polyadelphia, order Icosan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 five-cleft, flat at the base, very small, withering. Corolla : 

 petals five, oblong, flat, spreading. Stamina : filamenta 

 usually twenty, subulate, compressed, erect, placed in a ring 

 or cylinder, united generally into fewer or more bunches; 

 anthera: oblong. Pistil : germen superior, roundish ; style 

 cylindric, the length of the stamina; stigma globular, nine- 

 celled within. Pericarp : berry with a fleshy rind, the pulp 

 bladdery, many-celled. Seeds . in couples, subovate, callous. 

 Obserce. Orange has a cordate petiole : Citron, Lemon, and 

 Lime, have a naked and simple petiole. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Cal'uc .- five-cleft. Petals: five. Stamina: about 

 twenty, polyadelphous. Berry : many-celled. All the spe- 

 cies of Citrus are either trees of small growth, or shrubs ; 

 leaves evergreen, ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, entire or serrate, 

 pellucid, dotted, the petiole frequently margined : on the 

 natural trees there are often solitary axillary spines : pedun- 

 cles axillary or terminating, one-flowered, or many-flowered. 

 The species seem best distinguished by the petiole, which, 

 in the Orange and Shaddock, is winged; in the Citron, 

 Lemon, and Lime, naked : the form of the fruit, although 

 not quite constant, may also serve for a distinction : in the 

 Orange and Shaddock it is spherical, or rather an oblate 

 spheroid, with a red or orange-coloured rind ; in the Lime 

 spherical, with a pale rind ; in the Lemon oblong with a 

 nipple-like protuberance at the end ; in the Citron oblong, 

 with a very thick rind. Mr. Miller distinguishes the Citron 

 from the Orange, because in all the varieties of Citron which 

 he has examined, he found but ten stamina in the flowers, 

 whereas those of the Orange always have more. It is very 

 difficult to determine what is a variety, and what a species, 

 in this genus. The trees in the eastern countries, their 

 natural place of growth, vary not only in the size and shape 

 of their fruit, but also in their leaves ; many of those which 

 are only esteemed to be varieties in Europe, and are given 

 here as such, preserve their differences in their native woods. 

 ~ -The species are, 



1. Citrus Medica. Petioles linear; leaves egg-shaped, 

 acuminate. In its wild state this tree grows to the height of 



about eight feet, erect, and prickly, with long reclining 

 branches; leaves ovate-oblong, alternate, subserrate, smooth, 

 pale green ; flowers white, odoriferous ; fruit esculent, both 

 raw and preserved. Miller mentions two kinds of the proper 

 Citron; one sweet, with a thick rough-rinded fruit ; the other 

 sour, with a rough knobbed-rinded fruit. The other varieties 

 are, the Common Lemon; the Sour Lemon, or Lime; and the 

 Clustered Lemon. Genoa supplied the English gardens with 

 several varieties of the Citron, that country being the great 

 nursery of this, as well as of Lemons and Oranges; and the 

 gardeners who cultivate them are as proud of introducing a 

 new variety into their collection, as the nursery-men in 

 England are of obtaining a new Pear, Apple, or Peach. 

 The fruit of the Citron is seldom eaten raw, but is generally 

 preserved, and made into sweetmeats, which being kept till 

 winter and spring, when there is a scarcity of fruit to furnish 

 out the dessert, is the more valuable ; but unless the season 

 be warm, and the trees well managed, the fruit rarely ripens 

 in England. The best fruit will be produced where the trees 

 are trained against a south wall, through which there are 

 flues for wanning the air in winter ; and glass covers, to pro- 

 tect the plants when the weather begins to be cold. The 

 Citron is a native of all the warm regions of Asia ; it was 

 introduced into Europe from Media, and had the name of 

 Malus Medica, and seems to have been brought into Italy 

 after the age of Virgil and Pliny, but before that of Palladius, 

 who appears to be the first who cultivated it there with any 

 success. According to Haller, the Median Apple described 

 by Theophrastus, and which, Athenffius asserts, first came 

 from Persia into Greece, is certainly a sort of Orange; and 

 if Haller be correct, the tristes sued of Virgil, and the acres 

 medulla of Palladius, must have been much corrected by cul- 

 ture, for the latter, together with Theophrastus and Pliny, 

 agree in describing it as not eatable, though they celebrate 

 its medical qualities far above its desert. Citrus Medica, or 

 Citron, has medical virtues similar to those of the Orange and 

 Lemon ; the fruit is more flavoured than the latter, and the 

 rind acts more as an emetic ; the yellow rind is used, and 

 rom it the perfume called bergamot is extracted. Citrons 

 ire very rarely kept in the shops, though formerly much used 

 n the materia medica. Whether the Median apple were the 

 itron or the Orange, it was anciently celebrated as a cure 

 or the asthma, and for expelling poison. 



Media fert tristes succos tardumque saporem 

 Filicis mali, quo non prsesentius ullum 

 (Pocula si quando saevse infecere novercffi 

 Miscueruntque herbas, et non innoxia verba) 

 Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena. 

 Ipsa ingens ai-bos, faciemque similliraa lauro : 

 Et, si non alium late jactaret odorem, 

 Laurus erat : folia baud ullis labentia ventis : 

 Flos apprime tenax ; animus et olentia Medi 

 Ora fovent illo, et senibus medicantur anhelis. 



VIRGIL, Georgic. lib. ii. v. 126 136. 



The Median fields rich citron fruits produce, 

 Tho' harsh the taste, and clammy be the juice ; 

 Blest antidote! which when in evil hour, 

 The step-dame mixes herbs of pois'nous pow'r, 

 And crowns the bowl with many a mutter'd spell, 

 Will from the veins the direful draught expel. 

 Large is the trunk, and laurel-like its frame, 

 And 'twere a laurel, were its scent the same : 

 Its lasting leaf each roaring blast defies, 

 Tenacious of the stem its flow'rets rise ; 

 Hence a more wholesome breath the Medes receive, 

 And of their sires the lab'ring lungs relieve. 



ntt $ Wtorto*. 



