sturtevant's notes on edible plants 173 



Citrus. Rutaceae. bergamot. cltron. grape fruit, lemon, lime, orange, pomelo 



SHADDOCK. 



._ The determination of the species of this genus seems to be in confusion, as might 

 be expected from the great variability of this favorite fruit so long under cultivation. 

 Linnaeus 1 established two species, Citrus aurantium, comprising the sweet and bitter 

 orange and the shaddock; and Citrus medica, comprising the lime, lemon and citron. 

 Risso and Poiteau ^ recognized eight species, C. bergamia, the bergamot, C. limetta, the 

 sweet lime with white flowers, C. decumana, the shaddock, C. lumia, the sweet lemon, 

 C. limonum, the lemon, and C. medica, the citron. In 1818, Risso ' describes 169 varieties 

 and figures 105. The mass of evidence collected by Professor Targioni-Tozzetti seems 

 to show that oranges were first brought from India into Arabia in the ninth century, that 

 they were unknown in Europe, or at any rate in Italy, in the eleventh, but were shortly 

 afterwards carried westward by the Moors. They were in cultivation at Seville towards 

 the end of the twelfth century, and at Palermo in the thirteenth and probably also in 

 Italy, for it is said that St. Domine planted an orange for the convent of S. Sabina in 

 Rome in the year 1200. In the course of the same century, the crusaders foimd citrons, 

 oranges and lemons very abundant in Palestine, and in the fourteenth century both 

 oranges and lemons became common in several parts of Italy. 



They must have been early introduced to America, for Himiboldt ^ says "it would 

 seem as if the whole island of Cuba had been originally a forest of palm, lemon and wild 

 orange trees," and he thinks the oranges, which bear a small fruit, are probably anterior 

 to the arrival of Europeans, who transported thither the agrumi of the gardens. Cald- 

 louch * says the Brazilians affirm that the small, bitter orange, which bears the name of 

 loranjo do terra and is found wild far from the habitations of man, is of American origin, 

 De Soto,' ISS7. mentions oranges in the Antilles as bearing fruit all the year, and, in 1587. 

 Cavendish ' found an orchard with lemons and oranges at Puna, South America, and off 

 San Bias lemons and oranges were brought to the ships. In 1693-94, Phillips speaks of 

 the wild orange as apparently indigenous in Mexico, Porto Rico, Barbados and the Ber- 

 mudas, as well as in Brazil and the Cape Verde Islands.' 



The citron appears to have been the only one of this genus known in ancient Rome 

 and is probably the melea persike of Theophrastus and the persika mala of Dioscorides. 

 Lindley says those who have bestowed the most pains in the investigation of Indian botany, 

 and in whose judgment we should place the most confidence, have come to the conclusion 

 that the citron, orange, lemon, lime and their numerous varieties now in circulation, are 

 all derived from one botanical species. 



Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 51. 1876. 



' Ibid. 



Wood, A. Class Book Bat. 275. 1864. 



* Targioni-Tozzetti Journ. Hort. Soc. Lond. 9:173. 1855. 

 ' Humboldt, A. Trav. 3:171- 1 889- 



Ibid. 



' De Soto Disc. Conq. Fla. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 19. 1851. 

 ^ Lives Voy. Drake, Cavendish 136. 1854. 

 Nuttall, T. No. Amer. Sylva 2:54. 1865. 



