130 ORANGE LEMON. SHADDOCK. 



and the corolla, which is campanulate, is composed of the same 

 number of petals, and encloses five stamens, and as many 

 stigmas. 



90. The FAMILY OF AURANTIA'CE^ or HESPERI'DEJE, which 

 includes the orange and lemon, belongs to the same class as the 

 two preceding, and is composed of trees or shrubs, bearing articu- 

 late leaves, furnished with small vesicular glands, filled with a 

 transparent volatile oil ; their flowers are composed of a mono- 

 se'palous persistent calyx, with from three to five divisions, and 

 a corolla with from three to five petals; the style is simple ; and 

 the fruit is fleshy, internally separated by very thin membranous 

 partitions, and covered by a thick pericarp, which, like the leaves, 

 is furnished with vesicles filled with a volatile oil. 



91. The common orange Citrus auran'tium is a tree 

 which may grow to thirty or forty feet in height, but in our 

 climate seldom attains to twenty feet. It does not resist the cold 

 of our winters, and during this season it must be protected by a 

 proper temperature. Orange trees do not often yield fruit after 

 they are twenty years old ; but they may live for centuries ; there 

 are orange trees still existing at Cordova, that date back to the 

 time of the Moorish kings ; one of these trees is said to be 

 between six and seven hundred years old. At Versailles, there 

 is a biiter orange tree, that, it is said, was sown in the year 1421, 

 in the garden of the Queen of Navarre, at Pampeluna ; it after- 

 wards belonged to the Constable of Bourbon, and after his death, 

 this tree, then the only one in France, was transported from 

 Chantilly to the chateau of Fontainebleau, whence Louis XIV. 

 carried it to the orangery of Versailles in 1684. 



92. The uses of the orange, the lemon (Ci'trus me'dica), the 

 citron (a variety of the Ci'trus me'dica), the lime (Ci'trus acida), 

 and the shaddock (Ci'trus decumana], are well known. They 

 all contain an agreeable acid, which renders them favourites as 

 dessert fruits, or for making acidulous drinks, for preserves, 

 confections, &c. The rind is generally bitter, and abounds in 

 volatile oil. There are two principal varieties ; the sweet or 

 China orange, and the bitter or Seville orange. An agreeable 

 distilled water is prepared from the flowers of the orange. The 

 oil of bergamot is obtained from the rind of the fruit of a species 

 of Citrus. 



90. What are the characters of the family of Aurantia'cece ? 



91. To what family does the orange tree belong ? Are orange trees very 

 short-lived ? 



92. What are the uses of the orange ? 



