The Seville Oranges. 5 



confusion, to satisfy oneself regarding the wild parent 

 of the cultivated Seville orange. De Candolle says 

 that the Citrus fusca of Loureiro, is wild in China 

 and Cochin China. Loureiro says that his C. fusca 

 corresponds with the Aurantium acidum, of Rumphius, 

 given in plate 33 (not 23 as is stated in De Candolle's 

 book;* the latter is a Tamarind), Vol. II. Flor. 

 Amboyn. The figure on that plate is certainly, both 

 in leaf, spine, and fruit like the small Seville I saw in 

 Newra Ellia. But curiously enough, Loureiro says 

 " the leaves have an unpleasant odor, and the flowers 

 are not very scented" (sub-odorous). In other respects 

 his description corresponds exactly to that of the 

 Sevilles I have seen. With regard to the scent of the 



o 



leaves and flowers, without laying much stress on this 

 character, I would observe, that some people see 

 green, that which is red ; and others cannot hear 

 certain sounds. It is therefore likely that the 

 olfactory nerves of all of us do not recognize the same 

 shades of odor, so that it is not impossible Loureiro 's 

 olfactory nerves were differently impressed by aromas, 

 which others might call distinctly and strongly sweet. 

 It is not impossible also, that a wild plant might be 

 differently scented from a cultivated one. It is, how- 

 ever, rather strange that the leaves of all the Sevilles 

 I have seen should retain so persistently and exactly 

 the same fine aroma in their leaves. None of them 

 could be called cultivated, but rather, not wild. Only 

 one the ndrtun of Tanjore, which I think is a 

 Seville had an unpleasant resinous scent in its leaves. 

 Nevertheless, the young seedling of this same 

 ndrtun had in its young leaves the characteristic 

 aroma of all the others I had met with. The flowers 

 of the ndrtun I have not seen. Not improbably 

 * Origin of Cultivated Plants English translation. 



