The Jambhiri Group. 61 



seen it in any other type.* The colour of the pulp 

 varies from white to pale with an orange tinge, and to 

 orange. All are sour, and never sweeten, and the 

 internal arrangement of the pulp is like that of a 

 keonla or suntara orange. The leaves I have seen re- 

 semble mainly those of the keonla group, excepting that 

 of pi. 1 36 from Hagkala in Ceylon. Some of the leaves 

 of this were enormous. This may be owing to climate 

 and excessive moisture, or to their growing on young 

 luxuriant shoots. Several kinds of citrus on the young 

 shoots, which grow from the base of the stem, often 

 produce unusually large leaves. The flowers and 

 young shoots of this Hagkala tree were tinged purple, 

 and the pulp pale orange. 



Whether this group has any connection, by descent, 

 with the keonla group of oranges or not, it is impossible 

 to say. Direct experiments in crossing the different 

 varieties of citrus may possibly throw some light on 

 this point. 



Many authors give this name ofjamiAirj as of San- 

 skrit origin, and, therefore, conclude that it is indige- 

 nous to India. Others deny that any genuine Sanskrit 

 work makes any mention of any citrus whatever. f 

 Supposing, however, that some Sanskrit work did 

 mention \hejambhlri, it is next to impossible to make 

 out which of the many Indian varieties of citrus is 

 meant. Brandis gives the lime proper, the kaghzi- 

 nimboo, the Sanskrit name of jambira, but natives 

 give this name mostly to the forms on the plates men- 

 tioned, which are not those of the kaghzi-nimboo. 

 Moreover, it is doubtful whether the lime proper is 



* In another place I mention that a South American gentleman 

 informed me that in Monte Video they have good oranges, which 

 are brown externally, like the brown apples of the English shops. 



f Vide Chapter on " Derivations of Citrus Names." 



