60 



GALLEStO'S TREATISE ON TttE CITRUS FAMILY. 



All this, which is but a repetition of passages 

 reported by M. de Sacy, proves in an unanswer- 

 able manner, first, thut there exists a balm-tree 

 type vHbich has flower and fruit, and reproduces 

 itself from seed. {Secondly, by fecundation va- 

 rieties are formed, which most often have the 

 ordinary trait of monsters, sterility. Thirdly, 

 that tins monstrous variety, following the ex- 

 ample of other vegetable mules, is indemnified 

 for this sterility by a singular property which, in 

 this kind, is letting fiow in greater abundance a 

 humor probably destined to nourish fructifica- 

 tion. Fourthly, that in nature this variety has 

 existence only "during the life of the individual, 

 consequently it cannot perpetuate itself save by 

 art. 



Fifthly. That according to all these facts, this 

 variety could have been lost in Egypt, and 

 might have re-appeared in the vicinity of Mecca ; 

 and in this place could have shown traits of the 

 ancient variety, modified and changed by acces- 

 sory accidents, thus causing it to differ from the 

 descriptions of the ancients. 



We can apply very nearly the same reasoning 

 to the persea of Theophrastus. M. de Sacy 

 has proved very conclusively that this tree is the 

 lobakh of the Arabians. He has also proved 

 that it is closely connected with the sidra 

 (rhamnus xpina cristi. Desf.) or nabka of the 

 Egyptians. 



Why might it not be a variety of that species, 

 whose fruit is larger and more agreeable f 



Species never lose themselves in the regions 

 where they are acclimated. 



Nature has provided for their multiplication 

 by numerous means which make up the defi- 

 ciencies of art, and elude the destructive spirit 

 of man. If the persea had been a species, it 

 would have, of itself, multiplied itself by its 

 seeds, and the revolutions of Egypt would have 

 only facilitated its propagation." It must, then, 

 have been but a variety due to fecundation, and 

 consequently could be perpetuated only by the 

 cutting or the graft. In this event the character 

 of its fruit would differ from those of its type as 

 much as the butter-pear differs from the wild 

 pear. 



Thus all research to find a plant with fruit, 

 answering exactly to that described by The- 

 ophratus, is useless ; we must content ourselves 

 with a slight similarity, chiefly with regard to 

 the fruit, and admit that the variety of Theo- 

 phratus may have disappeared, but that the 

 species to which it belonged still exists. 



One might think it extraordinary that these 

 disappearances have not taken place among 

 varieties of many other plants the banana, for 

 instance. But I would observe that it (the ba- 

 nana) has received from nature a prodigious 

 facility for reproducing itself by cuttings and 

 suckers ; consequently has the power of self-pres- 

 ervation : whilst our trait-trees require extra- 

 ordinary care, such as grafting, or careful slip- 

 ping, which pre-suppose a degree of civilization, 

 and a certain completeness in the culture. 



Besides, there are species, which, more often 

 than others, form varieties, and among such 

 varieties there are some which are regularly 

 formed in the ordinary state of blossoming, and 

 others which are the result of an extraordinary 

 combination, taking place very rarely. 



From the complication of all these circum 

 stances result the differences seen in these phe- 

 nomena. 



This digression may seem out of place, yet is 

 useful in throwing light upon the principles of 

 the theory advanced by me in the first chapter 

 of this work. 



In examining the descriptions of Abd-Allatif, 

 we easily 'recognize the monstrous citron (" Gros 

 Citron.' 1 ' Abel-All., bk 1, p. 31,) the citron of 

 sweet-fruit ( " citron doux which is not at all 

 acid," Ib.) the lemon-cedrat. ("Tlie lemons, 

 named by some, composite; among them are found 

 fruit as large as a water-melon." Abd-All., p. 81.) 

 Ebn-Djemi, quoted by Ebn-Beitar, says : " The 

 composite lemon is a lemon graft upon a citron 

 tree. We add, (continues Ebn-Beitar,) that the 

 skin of this fruit has more of sharpness and bit- 

 terness than that of the citron, but less than that 

 of the lemon ; it also has a sweet taste, not in 

 either of those fruits. Because of this, it posses- 

 ses a nutritive quality not found in citron or 

 lemon, and holds a middle place between those 

 two acid fruits.'' This explanation is precise 

 enough for us to recognize in this variety the 

 lemon-ccdrat or poncirc. We also see in his 

 balm-lemon, which is but an inch long and *' in 

 the shape of an elongated egg," a race resemb- 

 ling the lime of Naples. 



This lemon is certainly the same as the wild 

 lemons found by Bellon, near Cairo, " which 

 have fruit never larger than a pigeon's egg." 

 (Bel. c. 36, p. 236.) 



Burmanni, jin speaking- of a kind of limonia 

 which he found near Ceylon, connects it to the 

 wild lemons of Bellon ; but it is evident that the 

 malm limonia of Ceylon, is a limondlier (Li- 

 monia, L.) ; and Bellon's lemons are true lemon- 

 trees of small fruit, such as the lime of Naples, 

 and the balm-lemon spoken of by Abd-Allatif. 



The monsters inclosing another lemon in 

 their interior are but yearly accidents, which 

 might have occurred in the time of Abd-Allatif, 

 as now. (" Some citrons have inside another 

 citron with yellow skin." p. 31.) 



In the mokhattan, or sealed lemon, we see a 

 variety very singular and difficult to recognize. 

 Abd-Allatif says : " There is another sort of 

 lemon called mokhattan, that is to say sealed, 

 which is of a deeper and more bright red 

 than the orange; they are perfectly round, and 

 a little flattened above and below, as if forced 

 in by pressing there a seal." This peculiar 

 variety resembles none known to us. It appears 

 to be a lumie or hybrid of the red-orange and 

 lemon. 



According to this writer, it owes the epithet 

 mokhattan to the flattened appearance of its ex- 

 tremities. 



The conical citron, of which he speaks, is ap- 

 parently but u modification of shape, which 

 might connect it with varieties cultivated by us ; 

 but one cannot determine that, by this single 

 circumstance. ("There are also citrons having 

 an absolutely conical form, beginning in a base, 

 and ending in a point; but which, otherwise, in 

 color, odor, taste of pulp and acidity, differ in no 

 way from the citron," Abd-All.) We have sev- 

 eral varieties that affect this form ; (the lemon 

 perclta is the opposite) and amon^ others, the 

 citron of Florence. 



