10 



GALLESIO'S TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY. 



saniou or zaiiibau-; and being acquainted with the 

 sweet orange only, they divided the genus into 

 the citron, lemon, sour orange, and zambau. 



The Italian and French agriculturists have 

 added to these four species the sweet orange and 

 a multitude of varieties known by the names of 

 limes, lumies, poncires, &c. 



Linnaeus, attached to the artificial system 

 which he had just established, placed the Cit- 

 rus among the polyadelphias, referring to the 

 union of the stamens in several bundles; and 

 he ranged it in the order of icasandrias, referring 

 to the number of organs which he supposed, in 

 all the species, to be twenty, although we find in 

 the lemon and citron as many as thirty or forty. 



He also fixes the accidents which "determine 

 the form of the petiole of the leaf, and not hav- 

 ing remarked that the petiole of the citron tree 

 is not articulated like that of the lemon, he has 

 made of these two races a single species, distin- 

 guished by the characteristics of linear petioles 

 (petiolis Hnearibus.) 



The winged form of the petiole has been the 

 characteristic which has determined his second 

 species, and as this accident distinguishes equally 

 the sweet and sour orange, LmnEeus has re- 

 garded the latter as the type and the former as 

 a variety, and united them under the name of 

 Oitrus petiolis alatis, or Citrus, with winged 

 petioles, Finally, he has made a third species of 

 a Japan orange, described by Ksempfer, refer- 

 ring to the ternate leaves, and called it Citrus 

 trifoliata. 



The later editors of Linnaeus augmented the 

 number of these species by one called Citrus de- 

 cumana, which Linnaeus himself ranked among 

 the varieties. They thought that its obtuse and 

 scolloped leaf (foliis obtusis emarginatis) was a 

 sufficient characteristic to constitute it a type, and 

 did not observe that this peculiarity is neither 

 general nor constant, and that in consequence it 

 is rather a monster than a characteristic feature. 

 They have also added the Citrus angulata or 

 limoneUus angulosus of Rhumphius, and the Cit- 

 rus japonica of Thumberg, whose characteristics 

 are, without doubt, top different from those of 

 our specimens of the Citrus family not to consti- 

 tute distinct species. 



We have followed a new method ; we have 

 begun by seeking the species among all Eu- 

 ropean specimens of the Citrus, and arranged 

 around these their hybrids and varieties. 



We have also presented some reflections upon 

 the species of the Indies, of which we have given 

 only an idea, leaving to more enlightened bot- 

 anists the task of examining and classifying them, 

 as we have those of Europe. 



The seed-beds have been the principal means 

 made use of in our search for species. 



We have seen the citron tree of the Jews (Cit- 

 rus medico, cedra fructu oblongo crasso eduliodora- 

 tissimo, GALL. SYN.,) reproduced constantly from 

 the seed. It has many seeds, the greater part of 

 which always give citron trees having constantly 

 the same characteristics in aspect, form, and prop- 

 erties ; itjij therefore, a type. 



All orafer citrons are sterile or nearly so, and 

 hence are only hybrids or varieties. Such are 

 the Chinese citron, (Citrus medico, cedra fructu 

 maxvmo aurantiato, GALL. SYN.,) the cedrat of 

 Florence, (Citrus meclica cedra Florentine frucfu 



\ parro, GALL. SYN.,) and several others which re- 

 | semble them. 



The common lcnion(C$^'s mcdica Union fmctu 

 ocato, G. S.,) also contains many seeds. It is re- 

 produced constantly from the seed, and its pecu- 

 liarities are perpetuated in its descendants. It is, 

 therefore, a species. It produces hybrids and va- 

 rieties, but they are found rarely, and only among 

 many types. They have few seeds, and these re- 

 produce most frequently the type. Sometimes 

 they contain no seeds, and it is always in those 

 deviating most from the type that we remark 

 this sterility. The poncire or cedrat lemon (Citrus 

 'mcdica Union fructu citrato, GALL. SYN.,) is of this 

 number. 



The sour orange also produces many seeds, 

 which always reproduce sour orange trees. Hy- 

 brids are met with only among a great number of 

 types. Varieties are found more frequently, but 

 these deviate very little from the characteristics 

 of the type, and their seeds always reproduce it ; 

 hence the sour orange is a species. 



The sweet orange has many seeds, which al- 

 ways reproduce sweet oranges. They give rise 

 to varieties, and we often remark in the same 

 sowing, orange trees of ordinary fruit and others 

 of superior fruit, but there is no single example in 

 which these seeds have produced a sour orange 

 tree. The sweet orange is, therefore, a species. 



When it gives monsters they have no seeds, or 

 very few ; such are the seedless orange (auran- 

 tium semine carens, FER.,) the red orange (auran- 

 tium hieroclmnticum, GALL. SYN.,) and the small 

 China orange (Citrus aurantium caule etfntctu, 

 pumilo, GALL. SYN.) 



These four species are, therefore, certainly 

 types. They do not, perhaps, present all the 

 exterior characteristics which the botanists have 

 adopted to distinguish species ; but in the study 

 of natural history it is necessary to guard against 

 forcing nature in order to make her conform to 

 various systems. 



She is not confined to constant forms and de- 

 terminate modification in order to distinguish 

 vegetables. She is pleased to vary those distinc- 

 tive signs by which she has marked these divis- 

 sions. She has, from preference, fixed them in 

 the fructifying parts and the form of the leaf, but 

 has not, on this account, renounced less general 

 peculiarities. 1 1 is sufficient that a characteristic 

 be constant, or unalterable, or pronounced, in 

 order to be distinctive for nature. Thus the 

 acidity and bitterness of the pulp of the sour 

 orange, the aroma of its peel, its leaf and flower, 

 being qualities constantly attached to this plant, 

 altered neither by culture nor climate, nor even 

 by the seed, may and must be distinctive char- 

 acteristics of this species. 



These are the principles which have guided us 

 in the classification of the species of the Citrus 

 of Europe. We have been able to recognize only 

 four of them ; all the others are only hybrids or 

 varieties. They all present the mixture of these 

 four mother-species, and their characteristics, 

 confounded and combined in a hundred different 

 ways, never depart from the model of these four 

 types. 



Such is evidently the nature of all the races 

 seen in the gardens of Europe. It is only in the 

 Indies that we meet with a great number of oth- 

 erR whoso physiognomy assimilates them to our 



