THE LEMON IN CALIFORNIA. 161 



THE LEMO^ 



Citrus medica limonum, Risso. 



SEEDLINGS.— J7vpoco(i/? becoming \Yoody, erect, terete, finely pubescent, 

 wiry, pale green, 2.3-2.9 cm. long. 



Cotyledons two, rarely three, mostly alternate, fleshy, oblong, obtuse, pale 

 green, finely pubescent, sessile or subsessile, somewhat notched at the base. 



Stem woody, erect, terete, finely pubescent, wiry; first internode variable, 

 1.6-2.3 cm. long: second, 2 inm.; third, 3 mm. ; fourth, 7.5 mm. 



Leaves compound, cauline, alternate, exstipulate, petiolate, glabrous, deep 

 green, shining, pubescent on the nerves beneath when young, permeated 

 with translucent glands, doubly crenulate, emarginate; petioles subpiubescent, 

 winged with a prominent midrib, and tapering toward the base. 



Nos. 1 and 2 unifoliate, frequently also Nos. 3 and 4. All alternate at 

 greater or less distances from each other, or in pairs, or all four verticillate, 

 ovate, obtuse, emarginate, articulated at the top of their petioles, or the 

 lowest pair articulate at the base only. 



Nos. 3 and 4 frequently digitately trifoliate, the terminal leaflet being 

 lanceolate-elliptic, attenuate at the base ; the lateral leaflets arise by segmen- 

 tation from the terminal one. 



No. 4. In some instances five-foliolate ; the rachis between the basal and 

 nest pair of leaflets winged and tapering toward the base in the same way as 

 the primary petiole; leaflets sessile, lanceolate-elliptic, emarginate, minutely 

 and doubly crenulate, smaller than the leaflets of unfoliate leaves.— Sie 

 JoHK Lubbock, " Contribution to our Knowledge of Seedlings," Vol. I, 1892. 



The flower of the lemon is of medium size, with a reddish 

 tint outside, but white within. Fruit pale yellow, generally 

 oval, ending in a nipple-like point, seldom round or pyriform. 

 The skin is smooth, about the thickness of that of the orange, 

 becoming greatly reduced, thin, pliable, and leathery to the 

 touch after being stored away, styled "curing." 



The lemon is not so hardy a tree as the orange and is more 

 susceptible to frost. While this is true it is also true that 

 it does not require so high a temperature to bring out its 

 best qualities, which it will attain on the coast, where the 

 orange is inferior. The lemon is a prolific tree, bearing more 

 fruit than the orange and requiring more water, but the 

 treatment of the tree in the matter of planting, cultivating, 

 etc., except pruning, is the same as that required by the 

 orange, and the rules laid down for the latter apply equally 

 to the former. 

 lie 



