GALLESIO'S TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY. 



15 



riety has the preference in which this part is de- 

 veloped at the expense of the generative parts, as 

 in double and sterile flowers. 



Others are sought only for their aroma, as the 

 sour orange. Finally, capricious man attaches 

 value to monsters even, which are useless to him, 

 and seeks for ornament odd and rare forms, such 

 as shriveled leaves, leaves developing out of pro- 

 portion the yellow streak which borders the leaf, 

 a tendency of the branches to descend to the soil, 

 and other monstrosities of this nature. All these 

 caprices form the ornament of our gardens and 

 the delight of our tables ; but to Nature they are 

 departures from the object she has proposed to 

 herself. She repels them and condemns them to 

 perish. But man has succeeded in preserving 

 and multiplying them. The seed refusing to 

 give germs capable of reproducing them, he has 

 propagated the individual he possesses by divid- 

 ing it into a thousand parts, and thus by grafts 

 and scions preserves it without change. Thus 

 these adulterous sons have filled our gardens, and 

 the types have been banished to the woods. 



MONSTEES. 



According lo the fifth theory monsters are only 

 individuals whose organization has undergone 

 alteration by fecundation. If this alteration take 

 place in the ovules the monster is in the germ, 

 and this germ sown, produces a variety bearing 

 only monsters. We have already analyzed this 

 phenomenon. If this alteration take place in the 

 ovary, the monster is in the fruit which results 

 from it and perishes with it. This phenomenon 

 is so extraordinary that I hesitated a long time 

 to believe it, but the experiments which I made 

 respecting it have convinced me of the truth of 

 its existence. 



It presents three kinds of facts. The first is 

 the alteration of the forms of the ovary. This 

 part acquires a partial and irregular growth, 

 which develops the pericarp on one side, and im- 

 presses upon it very singular forms, such as 

 linear, depressed or curved prolongations, which 

 often contain in their interior a pulpy principle 

 or a unilocular pulp. This phenomenon often 

 appears in the orange and lemon. I have some- 

 times seen it in peaches. 



The second fact is the change of nature in a 

 part of the ovary or of the pericarp resulting 

 from it. This exterior body sometimes bears a 

 binding or stripe of the species witli which it has 

 been fecundated, as the orange, whose flower has 

 been fecundated by the pollen of the lemon. 

 It is difficult to harmonize such phenomena with 

 principles well understood; but a fact is a fact, 

 and Nature is sometimes as impenetrable as mar- 

 vellous in her operations. 



The third fact is : One flower fecundated by a 

 quantity of dust from several other flowers offers 

 the phenomenon of a fruit containing in itself a 

 second fruit of the same nature. This phenome- 

 non is frequent in oranges. Rumphius says that 

 at Amboine there are species which present many 

 such instances, but cease to give them if trans- 

 planted to Banda. This has always been attri- 

 buted to fecundation, and my experience goes to 

 confirm this opinion. The fruit which presents 

 this appearance is often ruffled, or in a manner 

 folded inwards ; at other times the ruffling resem- 

 bles a second fruit which proceeds from the inte- 

 rior of the first, but 'always ruffled in form. If 



we cut these fruits we perceive a mixture of peel 

 and cells, the one in the other, which creates 

 confusion and announces superfetation. 



These monsters rarely bear seeds. They fre- 

 quently occur in certain species, are rare in oth- 

 ers, and never appear in the larger part of our 

 indigenous vegetables. 



These differences are due. perhaps, to the dif- 

 ferent dispositions of the sexual organs and their 

 relative conformation. They are, perhaps, due 

 to difference in climate, which may favor or in- 

 jure them at the time of flowering, and to other 

 circumstances which Nature conceals from the 

 eyes and researches of man. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE GENUS CITRUS ARRANGED ACCORDING TO 

 THE NEW THEORY OF VEGETABLE REPRO- 

 DUCTION. 



ART. I. Tlte Citrus Divisions of Botanists and 



Agriculturists Division^ adopted in this work 



Primitive species The species of the Indies. 



The Citrus is a genus whose species are greatly 

 disposed to blend together, and whose flower 

 shows great facility for receiving extraordinary 

 fecundation ; it hence offers an infinite number 

 of different races which ornament our gardens, 

 and whose vague and indefinite names fill the 

 catalogues. 



It is the multitude of tliese beings which we 

 propose to describe. We shall endeavor to clas- 

 sify them according to the principles already ex- 

 plained. We shall describe species, hybrids, and 

 varieties, and endeavor to establish their identity. 

 This is, perhaps, one of the most difficult portions 

 ,of our work, first, because the botanists or agri- 

 culturists who have described the varieties have 

 not always done so with the exactness requisite 

 to enable us to recognize them among so many 

 different names ; and, secondly, because in the 

 course of centuries several of these varieties have 

 disappeared, from frosts or other influences, and 

 been replaced by a quantity of new varieties 

 which resemble them, and which, by means of 

 some slight differences, create confusion in the 

 application and comparison of these descrip- 

 tions. 



It is only with the aid of knowledge which I 

 have acquired of these varieties in our gardens, 

 where I have cultivated them for a long time 

 passionately, and in those of several semi-tropical 

 countries which I have visited for this pur- 

 pose, that I venture to undertake the task of re- 

 conciling this numerous and perplexing nomen- 

 clature. 



I will begin by examining the species. 



Some authors have regarded the citron alone 

 as the original species and the type of the other 

 species. 



Tournefort, with most botanists of the six- 

 teenth and seventeenth centuries, has recognized 

 in the lemon and sour orange the characteristics 

 of types as well as in the citron, anjihas consid- 

 ered the sweet orange as a variety* 1 ^ the sour 

 orange. 



The Arab agriculturists have ranked Adam's 

 apple (la pomme dAdam) among the species, 

 which they have designated by the name of lay- 



