ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 
BULLETIN 
OF 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
No. 88.] APRIL. (1894. 
CCCLXXI.—WEST INDIAN LIME. 
(Citrus Medica, L., var. acida, Brandis.) 
(With Plate.) 
“One of the most distinct species of Citrus is C. Medica, which 
includes the citron, lemon, and the limes. Of the limes there are sweet 
and sour limes, chara cterised, according to Roxburgh, by small pinkish 
pede usually four petals, and a perfectly spherical fruit, having a 
hin skin of lively yellow colour and pale acid juice. Sir Joseph 
Hooker states that the word lime is promiscuously applied to fruits very 
different in character, especially in British India, whe e sweet limes 
of various forms are universally spoken of under that name. 
The sour lime, although probably introduced from the East Indies, 
has made its second home in the West Indies, ty indeed, is its 
present principal area of systematic cultivation. The kistovy of the sour 
lime is given by Sir Joseph Hooker in the Botanical Magazine, tab. 6745. 
It was | first described by Rumph (Hortus Amboinensis, ii, p. 1 
tab. 29) in 1750, pees the name of d alias Limotenitis, or 
thin-skinned lem C. Limonellus is also described by Miquel, who 
says it is cittvatot everywhere in the Dutch East Indies. The same 
plant is well-figured by Wight as C. Limetta, Risso (Icones, t. 958), 
who says it is wild in the ‘Nilgiris In the West Indies, McFadyen 
very clearly describes it as Citrus Lima, “a thorny shru with ovate 
* with thin skin, abd an abundance of pure acid. juice; it is naturalised 
‘in Jamaica, forming strong fences." Brandis (Forest Flora, Ind., 
p. 52) rightly places “the sour lime of India as a variety of Ci trus 
Medica zT other authors refer the sour or West Indian lime to C. 
Limetta, Risso sso, its nearest European representative, but t is latter 
differs in its sweet juice. The botanical position of the West Indian 
$ 
lime as an acid variety of Citrus Medica a, L., is now established. This 
its present head-quarters under cultivation are in the West Indie, 
where in the islands of Montserrat, Dominica, and Jamaica it is commer- 
cially utilised for the production of lime juice and essential oil. 
U 80795.  1375.—4/94. Wt. 45. & 
