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TERATOLOGICAL FORMS OF CITRUS FRUITS* 

 By S. B. Parish 



Malformations as remarkable as are some of those which have 

 been described and figured in the pomes, notably the pear, do 

 not appear to have been noticed in the hesperidiums. But while 

 these curious forms are of merely scientific interest, and are without 

 economic importance, among oranges and lemons those most 

 commercially valued are, teratologically considered, mere mon- 

 strosities. 



The best lemons are varieties which habitually abort the ovules, 

 and, therefore, bear seedless fruits, which are, for that very reason, 

 preferred to those which are perfect and seed-bearing. There 

 are also other, and objectional deformities to which the lemon is 

 subject. The simplest of these is a roughening and thickening 

 of parts of the rind, causing elevated longitudinal ribs, or sec- 

 tions, of greater or less breadth. 



Occasionally the carpels themselves are more or less atrophied. 

 This results in such forms as d and ^in the accompanying figure, 

 in which the vestiges of the carpels are contained in the bulb-like 

 extremities of the fruit. In / and g are shown forms of still 

 further degeneracy, in which the carpels have entirely disappeared, 

 only the pericarp remaining, which is further deformed by fission. 



Syncarpy, one of the commonest teratological conditions in 

 fruits, is often exhibited by lemons. In specimens which have 

 come under my observation it was confined to the coherence of 

 only two individuals, but it is probable that a larger number may 

 sometimes be involved. In some cases the coalesence is so com- 

 plete that the proper outline of the fruit is little affected ; more 

 commonly the union is incomplete. Usually one member is not 

 fully developed, as a and c, or both may be only imperfectly de- 

 veloped, as shown in b. Syncarpy also occurs in the orange, but 

 more rarely than in the lemon. 



The most esteemed varieties of the orange are also those which 

 abort the ovules, and produce seedless fruit. This is the case 

 with the navel, the choicest orange grown in California, which 

 exhibits, in addition, a more pronounced teratological modifica- 



* Illustrated with the aid of the Catherine McManes Fund. 



