54 



. Ord. RUTACE^J. 

 Tribe Aurantieae. 



Genus Citrus, Linn. 



54. Citrus Limonum,* Risso, 1. c., p. 201 (1813). 



Lemon. 



8yn.G. medica, var. (3, Linn. C. acida, Roxb. 



Figures. WoodviUe, t. 89; Steph. & Ch., t. 92 ; Nees, t. 424; Hayne, xi, 

 t. 27 ; Berg & Sch., t. 31 f ; Risso, Oranges, tt. 7095. 



Description. A straggling bush or small tree, 10 12 feet 

 high, with numerous, irregular, short, angular branches, and 

 sharp spines in the leaf -axils ; bark clear grey, the younger 

 branches green, the twigs reddish or purplish, glabrous. Leaves 

 somewhat scantily produced, evergreen, alternate, blade 2 2J 

 inches long, ovate-oval, acute, rather yellow green, margin dis- 

 tinctly but distantly serrate, articulated with the petiole, which is 

 about \ an inch long and not, or very slightly, winged. Flowers 

 solitary, rarely 2 or 3 together, in the axils, on longish peduncles, 

 frequently unisexual. Calyx shallow, with 5 spreading teeth, 

 persistent. Petals 5, less than | of an inch long, oblong, 

 spreading, white above, strongly tinged with purplish-pink exter- 

 nally. Stamens 20 40 ; filaments nearly as long as petals, 

 separate, or more or less united into fours, hypogynous. Ovary 

 supported on and surrounded at the base by a large, firm, rounded 

 disk, about 10-celled, with several descending ovules in each as 

 in the orange ; style short, thick. Fruit, a rounded, ovoid, or 

 obovoid berry, about 3 inches long, usually with a nipple-shaped 

 extremity, bright yellow, smooth, with depressed punctations over 

 the oil-glands; structure as in the orange; pulp acid, pale 

 yellow. Seeds as in the orange, but smaller. 



Habitat. As a cultivated plant the lemon is now met with 

 throughout the Mediterranean region, and in Spain, Portugal, the 



* From the Arab Limun or Limu, which is said to have its origin in the 

 Sanskrit Nwibuka. 



