THE WILD "SOUR," OR SEVILLE ORANGE 203 



It is now generally conceded that the Spaniards intro- 

 duced their adopted fruit into Florida during their earliest 

 explorations, although the- seed and soil were so eminently 

 adapted to each other and the fruit of their union was so 

 prolific that "wild orange groves were soon to be found all 

 over Florida and in consequence some authorities have 

 declared it must be native to the Gulf regions. The Bitter- 

 Sweet (C aurantium vulgaris) is but a variety of the Seville, 

 though Manville, in describing it as a "tree indistinguish- 

 able from the sour," terms it the "Native wild orange of 

 Florida." In flavour this variety is exactly what its name 

 indicates, both bitter and sweet. Most of the wild orange 

 groves have been killed in some one of the several descents 

 to freezing temperature during the last century, or have 

 been budded to sweet varieties, as the sour stock is gen- 

 erally immune from foot-rot and has all over the world 

 proven less susceptible to extreme cold or drought than 

 the sweet stock. 



The Aurantium bigaradia, as the Seville is scientifically 

 termed, is smaller than the sweet orange tree, more gen- 

 erally inclined to be spiny, and its leaves more truly ellip- 

 tical, though both these points vary. The oil cysts are 

 concave, the general texture of pulp and rind heavier and 

 coarser, and the flavour quite distinct from the common 

 sweet orange. The flowers are similar in form and fra- 

 grance but susceptible of much variation by cultivation and 

 Europeans are familiar with varieties of the bigaradia culti- 

 vated exclusively for their floral beauty, as, the Nosegay 

 Plant, or le bouquetier of the French, these blossoms grow- 

 ing at the end of the branches in thick clusters. Other 

 varieties are the double-flowered bigarade, the myrtle- 

 flowered and the bizarre bigarades, the last of which has 

 purplish-white flowers, and fruit which curiously varies 

 in form and flavour. Throughout the semi-tropical 



