254 Appendix. 



No. 4. 



The "Treasury of Botany" (by John Lindley and Thomas 

 Moore) 1866, part i. p. 291, has the following: 



" The citron, orange, lemon, shaddock, and lime have 

 been referred to various species of citrus, with regard to which 

 botanists, however, are not agreed. It is even doubtful 

 whether all of them, with their numerous varieties, have not 

 originated from C. medica. On this point the following 

 observations by Dr. Lindley in the ' Journal of the Hort. 

 Soc. ' (ix. 171), are important. He states that the above- 

 mentioned fruits ' are all of eastern origin, and mostly intro- 

 duced in Europe in comparatively modern days, but of very 

 ancient and general cultivation in Asia. The varieties known 

 are very numerous, and difficult to reduce according to their 

 species, on the limits of which botanists are much divided 

 in opinion. Those who have bestowed the most pains on 

 the investigation of Indian botany, and in whose judgment 

 we should place the most confidence, have come to the con- 

 clusion that the citron, the orange, the lemon, the lime, and 

 their numerous varieties now in circulation, are all derived 

 from one botanical species Citrus medica indigenous to, 

 and still found wild in, the mountains of East India." 



(NOTE. Why the C. medica in particular should be con- 

 sidered to have been the grand-parent of all other kinds is 

 not clear. If we go back far enough into the history of plants 

 other genera also might perhaps be all included as descen- 

 dants of some more remote progenitor.) 



From the same source as the foregoing, the following is 

 taken : " The Jews cultivated the Citron at the time they 

 were under subjection to the Romans, and used the fruit 

 then, as at the present day, in the feast of Tabernacles; 

 but there is no proof of their having known this tree in the 

 time of Moses. It is likely they found it at Babylon during 

 their captivity and brought it to Palestine on their return* 

 Whatever may have been the diffusion of the species in 

 Western Asia at that remote date, there is no evidence of its 

 having been indigenous to Media, nor have modern travellers 



