18 



GALLESIO'S TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY. 



forty in number, have the same insertion as 

 the corolla; the filaments are brought together 

 in cylindrical form, crowded at the base and 

 polyadelphous ; the anther is yellow, linear, and 

 divided in the middle By a hollow ; the pistil 

 is composed of a simple ovary, ovoid, sur- 

 mounted by a single, fleshy style, and a simple 

 globular stigma, the pistil covered with a viscous 

 substance like honey. The fruit is capsular and 

 multilocular. It is formed of two skins, of which 

 the outside one is rough, yellowish, thin, sown 

 with an infinite number of globular vesicles ap- 

 pearing like little points, and full of a very aro- 

 matic oil ; the interior skin is thick, white, tender, 

 fleshy, and forms the most considerable part of 

 the fruit. Under this interior skin is a mem- 

 brane which envelops the pulpy part, and which, 

 penetrating the interior, forms double partitions 

 converging to an axis, where they divide the fruit 

 into nine or ten sections. These sections are 

 polysperrnous. They are filled with a pulpy flesh 

 formed from a quantity of oblong vesicles full of 

 au acid juice, and containing cartilaginous seeds 

 in indeterminate number. 



THE LEMON TREE. 



The lemon is a tree, but its pliant branches 

 show a preference for an espalier. 



Its leaves are ovoid, large, dentate, of a clear 

 green, tending to yellow. They are borne on a 

 petiole, articulated at the point of its union with 

 the disc of the leaf, apd guarded by two projec- 

 tions on the sides. Its shoots while tender are of 

 a purplish tint. Its flowers are larger than those 

 of the orange, and a little smaller than those of 

 the citron tree, and partly hermaphrodite and 

 partly dioecious. The corolla has five petals, col- 

 ored "red without and white within, set upon a 

 green five-cleft calyx, in the midst of which in 

 the hermaphrodite flowers rises a pistil smaller 

 than in the citron, surmounted by a stigma cov- 

 ered also with a viscous humor and surrounded 

 by from thirty to forty stamens united into several 

 bodies and " bearing a yellow anther. The 

 fruit, almost ovoid, is nippled, or pointed, 

 at the summit. The exterior skin is thin 

 and of a very pale, clear yellow tint. The inte- 

 rior skin is thin also, white and tough. The 

 first is formed of a quantity of little vesicles 

 containing a very penetrating aroma, which 

 vanishes in a great degree when the fruit 

 reaches excessive maturity. The pulp is en- 

 closed in nine or eleven sections, which form 

 the most considerable part of the fruit, and 

 are composed of an infinite number of oblong ves- 

 icles of a light yellow, containing a sharply acid 

 juice, abundant and very agreeable. The paren- 

 chyma or pellicle which covers these sections is 

 so adherent to the skin or peel that it can not be 

 separated without being torn. It is thin, trans- 

 parent, and without bitterness. 



THE ORANGE TREE. 



The orange is more vigorous than the citron 

 and lemon trees. It forms a full and majestic 

 tree. Its leaves are oblong, pointed, slightly den- 

 tate, and winged in the petiole, and of a very 

 deep green, which distinguishes them at once 

 even to the sight from those of the lemon and 

 citron trees. 



The constantly hermaphrodite flower has five 

 petals, and is distinguished from those of the 

 citron and lemon by its whiteness and the grate- 



ful odor emanating from it. The stamens, twenty 

 in number, are divided into several bodies, and 

 bear an oblong anther, whose pollen is of a deep 

 yellow. 



The fruit of the orange tree is spherical, and 

 sometimes flattened. Its peel is more or less 

 thin, according to the kinds ; its interior part is 

 light, stringy, and tasteless ; its exterior is thin, 

 colored a golden yellow, which distinguishes the 

 orange from the lemon and citron, and is com- 

 posed of a quantity ef vesicles containing an 

 agreeable essential oil. 



The sections, nine in number, which form the 

 larger part of the fruit, are enveloped in a trans- 

 parent membrane, which is with much facility 

 detached from the peel, to which it clings only 

 by the white, cottony substance forming the in- 

 terior skin. The pulp contained by these sec- 

 tions is formed of a quantity of oblong vesicles 

 of deep yellow color, full of a sweet and refresh- 

 ing juice, and contains oblong, cartilaginous, and 

 yellowish seeds. 



THE BIGARADE TREE. 



The orange tree having sour fruit, or the 

 bigarade, does not grow so high as the sweet 

 orange ; its leaf has the heart of the petiole more 

 pronounced ; its flower has vastly more aroma, 

 and is preferred for perfuming waters and essen- 

 ces ; its fruit is somewhat rough and of a deeper 

 reddish tint, and the vesicles contained in the 

 exterior skin have a stronger aroma, indicating 

 also the bitterness of the interior peel and the 

 parenchyma which covers the sections of the 

 fruit. Its juice is sharp, and also slightly bitter 

 from the membrane forming the vesicles in 

 which the juice is contained. 



THE CITRON FRUIT. 



The citron is eaten only as a comfit. The 

 quantity of juice in its pulp is so small that little 

 account is made of it ; it has the properties of 

 lemon juice, but is less acid and has less perfume. 

 The peel of the citron is the part most used ; the 

 essential oil which it contains in the exterior 

 part is in a liquid state in the prominent vesicles, 

 which give to it the tuberosities which charac- 

 terize it. This oil is often pressed out, and, mixed 

 with sugar, is soluble in water, and used tor giv- 

 ing an aromatic flavor to liquors. The interior 

 part of the peel, or the'white, is agreeable to the 

 taste when its aroma is corrected by sugar ; it is 

 especially delicious when preserved, and in this 

 form it is generally found in commerce. 



THE LEMON. 



The lemon peel contains also an essential oil 

 full of aroma ; but this fruit is used only for its 

 acid and agreeable juice, which is very abundant, 

 and serves for seasoning animal and vegetable 

 substances. From it is also made, with sugar 

 and water, a drink beneficial to persons suffering 

 from inflammatory and putrid fevers. It is the 

 principal specific in scurvy, and the best antidote 

 against vegetable poisons. 



The lemon contains citric acid in a perfect 

 'state, only mixed with water, from which it can 

 be easily separated. It furnishes to the art of 

 dyeing a means of enlivening red colors taken 

 from the vegetable kingdom, and especially the 

 color of the carthamus or saffiower, which by 

 this means becomes so brilliant in silks. It has 

 a similar use in China and India, where the juice 

 is also used in order to prepare metals for gild- 



