A TREATISE ON THE CITRUS FAMILY 



BY M. OEOKGE GALLESIO, 



Auditor of the State Council, and Sub-Prefect or Suvomi. 



CHAPTER I. 



T1IEOKY OF VEGETABLE RErilODUCTKXX. 



AiiT. I. Of the CitrusOf its species The inter- 

 mediate races which unite them The researcJies 

 concerning the formation of new plants The 

 discovery of hybrids The uncertainty respect- 

 ing the nature of varieties. 

 The Citrus proper lias been for a long time 

 the only species of Agrumes known to Euro- 

 peans, and has thus furnished botanists the name 

 of the genus to which they have referred all the 

 species, and consequently the varieties also with 

 which our gardens have progressively been en- 

 riched. 



But among all these different races there have 

 always been distinguished four, whose physiog- 

 nomy is so marked, and whose characteristics so 

 distinct, that it is impossible to regard them as 

 other than the principal species into which the 

 genus is naturally divided. 



The first is the Citron, which has preserved the 

 generic name of Citrus. 



The second species is the Lemon, wrongly 

 called Citrus medico,, but properly Citrus limon. 

 The third and the fourth are commonly known 

 as the Sweet and Sour (Bigaradc) orange, and 

 have been united by botanists under the com- 

 mon name of Citrus aurantium. 



These four species have been almost infinitely 

 multiplied by a chain of varieties, and have been 

 crossed and confounded in such a manner that at 

 the present time they are so united one to the 

 other by an insensible and continuous gradation 

 that it is very difficult to distinguish them. 

 They are also multiplied in appearance more 

 than in reality by the different names which 

 these varieties have received from the botanists 

 of different countries, as well as by the disappear- 

 ance of several varieties once known, and the for- 

 mation of several new ones. 



In the midst of this confusion, which would 

 very naturally exist as to the varieties, they 

 should nevertheless have agreed concerning the 

 species, which has always presented characteris- 

 tics not to be mistaken. " 



But botanists have never occupied themselves 

 carefully with these secondary divisions, and sat- 

 isfied with having classified the numerous genera 

 of vegetables, they have regarded the different 

 races sometimes as species and sometimes as va- 

 rieties, without even determining the character- 

 istics by which nature has distinguished these 

 two analagous but different classes of the vege- 

 table kingdom. 

 They long di^mloil ID usa-rlain \vholliei 1 tlm 



earth has produced new species of plants since 

 the creation, or whether all which now exist were 

 created at the beginning of the world. 



This question, discussed with so much erudition 

 and sagacity, appears to have been decided since 

 we have discovered the secret of the combination 

 of the species by means of the fructifying pollen 

 which passes from one plant to the others ; and 

 it is no longer doubtful that nature, rich in her 

 productions, has arranged a kind of marriage 

 between plants differing a little, from which it 

 results that a new plant is produced, distin- 

 guished by the name of hybrid. 



The discovery of these vegetable mules, which 

 form in nature a class not originally existing, has 

 thrown much light upon and infinitely facilitated 

 the classification of species. 



But it still remains to determine the nature 

 and discover the origin of the third race of vege- 

 tables, which cannot be ranked among the hybrids 

 because they belong only to one species, but are 

 nevertheless so different from each other and from 

 the primitive type that w r e must regard them as 

 distinct beings, having their own peculiar char- 

 acteristics. 



It is principally upon these numerous races, 

 known under the name of varieties, that the 

 opinion of botanists and cultivators is still 

 divided. The hypotheses hitherto formed con- 

 cerning their nature and formation are so vague 

 and unsatisfactory that it is important for sci- 

 ence that light be thrown upon this mystery, and 

 that an explanation of it be given more in har- 

 mony with the principles of vegetable physiology. 

 We will begin by examining the opinions held 

 upon this subject. 



AIIT. II. Opinions of botanists and ayricuUtH'- 



ists respecting the origin and cause of varieties 



ami monsters. 



When we regard the variety always reappear' 

 ing in the productions of the vegetable kingdom, 

 and observe the innumerable multitude of new 

 beings by which the surface of the globe is con- 

 tinually enriched, w'e are tempted to believe that 

 nature has abandoned to a number of external 

 agents, either natural or artificial, the power of 

 modifying her productions and infinitely varying 

 them. 



But when we study vegetable life, and examine 

 closely all its changes and mysterious reproduc- 

 tions, we are persuaded that nature, always regu- 

 lar in her operations, always grand in her results, 

 has abandoned nothing to chance, and that she 

 has (IrtPrminod from tile moment of creation all 



