Disciission on the Origin of Varieties. 237 



from that of the citron ; but in the many varieties of 

 the Indian bajoiira, intermediate forms both of foliage 

 and fruit are found. It should be noted, however, 

 that the European lemon of the English shops, is 

 essentially a product of careful selection and cultiva- 

 tion. According" to Alphonse de Candolle, the Arabs 

 carried the lemon from Oman to Palestine and Egypt 

 in the tenth century. Not improbably in Oman itself 

 the citron had been already considerably " lemonized," 

 the latter fruit being more useful. He also says 

 Palermo and Tuscany had them about the middle of 

 the thirteenth century. Many of the lemons of the 

 English shops, imported from Sicily, even now bear 

 traces of their citron origin, in their thick skin and 

 rough furrowed and subwarty exterior. In plate 200, 

 a and b, is given a lemon, which Mr. Webster, B.C.S., 

 found in the " tarai " among forest trees. It had a 

 thin though solid skin, like the hard skin of the 

 citrons. It is impossible to say whether it was in- 

 digenous there or naturalized. 



Risso, in his monograph, gives many intermediate 

 forms, under the name of lemons, between the citron 

 and the best and most common lemon of all his 

 C. limonum vulgaris. The latter was recently intro- 

 duced from Malta into Lucknow. Thence it was 

 sent to many parts of India, and very recently I 

 sent plants of it from Etawah to many other parts, 

 including the Punjab, Assam, Bangalore, and Tine- 

 velly in South India. In Ceylon, on some of the 

 plantations, they have the lemon, probably also of 

 recent introduction. 



No one, as far as I am aware, has endeavoured to 

 trace the origin of the word lemon, as far as it could 

 be traced. 



Colonel Yule, in his " Glossary," p. 391, says : " But 



