82 Oranges and Lemons of India. 



lima, or kudalu dehi (leech-lime), and also Caffre- 

 lime, by the Europeans. 



It then flashed across my mind that possibly I held 

 in my hand the wild form of all the cultivated trite- 

 limes. Dr. Trimen and myself then visited the tree 

 together. The immense winged petioles of this 

 lima rather staggered me. The spines, large and 

 small, the leaflet and the flowers, were those of the 

 cultivated forms of lime. I collected some small leaves 

 of this interesting Citrus, and compared them with 

 the well-developed leaves of an adjoining cultivated 

 lime tree, and found that the undeveloped petiole of 

 the " lima " corresponded with the fully developed 

 petiole of the lime (see pi. 225, figs, /z, i and/). The 

 lime leaves are thinner, and so is the skin of the fruit. 

 Thin leaf and thin skin, or the reverse, usually go 

 together, though not always. 



I afterwards learnt that this "lima" is never 

 eaten ; that it is used, boiled, as an insecticide for 

 washing the head ; that it is used by estate coolies, 

 and others, for smearing over their feet, as an anti- 

 dote against land-leeches, and hence its acquired 

 name of "kudalu dehi," or leech-lime ; that it is often 

 grown near villages, and is sometimes found in jungles. 

 This " lima" appeared to me to have the characters of 

 a wild species. Its fruit is warty and thick skinned ; 

 the rind has an aromatic resinous scent and a bitter 

 acrid flavour. Its essential oil tinges paper perman- 

 ently of a gamboge-yellow. The pulp is sour and of 

 an unpleasant taste. A riper specimen of this fruit, 

 which I afterwards obtained, had an aroma sui 

 generis in its greenish pulp, not unlike that of the 

 true-lime, although mixed up with unpleasant flavours. 

 It appeared to me much less common in Ceylon* than 



* Dr. Trimen has recently informed me that he found it common 

 about villages. 



