THE ORANGE. 



{Citrus aurantium.) 



The tree which produces the well- 

 known Orange of commerce is closely 

 related to the lemon, the citron and the 

 lime, and with them belongs to the genus 

 Citrus. 



By some it is supposed that Linnaeus 

 selected this name, deriving it from a 

 corruption of the Greek word meaning 

 cedar-tree, because, like the cedar, it is an 

 evergreen. By others it is held that the 

 name was chosen in honor of the city of 

 Citron in Judea. In ordinary language 

 the name citron is applied to another spe- 

 cies of the genus, the fruit of which is ob- 

 long, about six inches in length and with 

 a thick rind. 



Many consider that the name Orange 

 is a direct corruption of the Latin word 

 aureum, meaning golden ; but our best 

 authorities on the derivation of words 

 believe that the name, though a corrup- 

 tion, reached its present form in the fol- 

 lowing manner : "The Sanskrit designa- 

 tion nagrungo, becoming narungle in 

 Hindustani, and corrupted by the Arabs 

 into naranj (Spanish naranja), passed by 

 easy transitions into the Italian arancia 

 (Latinized aurantium), the Roman aran- 

 gi, and the later Provincial Orange." 



In regard to the original home of the 

 Orange there is a great diversity of opin- 

 ion, yet there is little doubt that it was in 

 some portion of southern Asia. Both 

 the Orange and the lemon were unknown 

 to the Romans, hence they must have 

 been indigenous in a country not visited 

 by this people. The region traversed 

 by them was great and they even pene- 

 trated India. They were a people who 

 were inclined to please the palate and 

 would surely have used the Orange and 

 taken it home with them if discovered and 

 would doubtless have recorded the find- 

 ing of so important a fruit. These facts 

 tend to prove that the Orange was not 

 then cultivated in India unless in the re- 

 moter parts. Other portions of Asia were 

 unknown to the Romans but, with the 



exception of the southeastern portion, 

 climatic conditions would not have per- 

 mitted the growth of the Orange. 



De Candolle, an eminent botanist and 

 one the truthfulness of whose investiga- 

 tions cannot be questioned, held that the 

 original home of the Orange was the 

 Burmese peninsula and southern China. 

 Throughout both China and Japan this 

 fruit has been cultivated from very an- 

 cient times. 



Though not found by the Romans in 

 India it was later cultivated there and 

 without doubt it was carried from there 

 by the Arabs to southwestern Asia pre- 

 vious to the ninth century and from there 

 into Africa and to some of the European 

 islands. The Arabian physicians were 

 familiar with the medicinal virtues of the 

 Orange and have spoken of it in their 

 writings. It was probably afterwards in- 

 troduced into Spain and possibly to other 

 portions of southern Europe by the same 

 agency as it seemed to follow the spread 

 of Mohammedan conquest and civiliza- 

 tion. Thus in the twelfth century we find 

 that the bitter Orange was a commonly 

 cultivated tree in all the Levant coun- 

 tries. There is no reference to the sweet 

 Orange in the literature of this time and 

 it must have been introduced at a later 

 period. It was certainly cultivated in 

 Italy as early as the sixteenth century. 



In more recent years the cultivation of 

 the various varieties has spread through- 

 out the world wherever the climate and 

 the conditions of the soil will permit the 

 ripening of the fruit. 



Risso, in his valuable history of the 

 Orange family, enumerates one hundred 

 and sixty-nine varieties with distinct 

 characteristics. Of these he classes for- 

 ty-three under the Citrus aurantium. 



Besides the sweet and bitter varieties 

 the more common ones are the Mandarin 

 Orange of China, a flat and spheroidal 

 fruit the rind of which easily separates 

 from the pulp ; the Tangerine, which is 



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