168 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Median apple, the fruit is a counter poison, and a singular antidote against 

 all venom ; the leaves are like those of the arbutus, and the tree is armed 

 with thorns. The pome citron is not good to be eaten as a fruit, but is very 

 odoriferous, as are the leaves, which are used to be put in wardrobes among 

 apparel to give perfume, and to drive away moths and spiders." Virgil also 

 alludes to it in those lines generally supposed to describe the orange or the 

 true lemon, neither of which appear to have been introduced into Italy at that 

 time. 



The fruit of the Citron sometimes attains a very grea't size, weighing up- 

 wards of twenty pounds. It is not eaten, but the thick rind is much used to 

 make a preserve. The juice being acid, is employed instead of that of the 

 lemon and lime. Two essential oils are obtained from it, the oil of citron 

 and that of cedrat ; both are very fragrant, and much used in perfumery. 

 They are essential in composition with the oil of lemons. 



4. C. limonum, Risso. — Petioles margined ; leaves ovate -oblong-, unequally crenate ; 

 flowers with 25-30 stamens ; fruit oblong, rind firm, pulp acid. 



Risso, Ann, Mus., xx. 201 ; De Candolle, Prod., i. 539 ; Lindley, Flor. 

 Med., 164. 



Common Name. — Lemon-tree. 



Foreign Names. — Limonier, Fr. ; Limone, It. ; Gemeine Citron," Ger. 



Fig. 93. 



Description. — The Lemon-tree is an 

 evergreen, about twenty feet in height, 

 with flexible branches. The leaves 

 are firm, alternate, ovate-oblong, of a 

 bright green colour, shining, smooth, 

 crenate or serrulate, and attached to a 

 slightly-margined petiole. The flowers 

 are large, white, with a tinge of pink 

 on the outside, and arise from the 

 smaller branches. The calyx and pe- 

 tals resemble those of the orange, al- 

 ready described. The stamens are 

 numerous, being from 25 to 30. The 

 ovary is ovate. The fruit is ovate- 

 oblong, and terminated by a more or 

 less elongated knob or nipple-like pro- 

 tuberance ; externally it is of a straw- 

 yellow colour. The rind consists of 

 two coats, one thin and yellow, and 

 abounding in a fragrant oil, the other 

 thick and coriaceous. 



There are numerous varieties 

 of the Lemon, both as regards 

 form and flavour ; some being 

 long, with large knobs, others 

 ovate, others again pear-shaped, 

 furrowed,. &c. ; some are ex- 

 tremely acid, whilst others are sweet. All, however, preserve the general 

 characteristics of the species. This fruit, like the others before mentioned, is 

 of Asiatic origin, and does not appear to have been introduced into Europe 

 until long after the citron, being brought from the East at the time of the 

 Crusades, the notices in the Roman writers, generally supposed to refer to 

 this fruit, being, as has before been said, to the citron. This, as is observed 

 by Mr. Royle, is confirmed by the fact, " that the Persian and Arabian 



C. limonum. 

 a Flower, b Fruit divided. 



