187 
CITRUS MEDTCA. 
The Lemon Tree.* 
Class PoLYADELPHiA. — Order Icosandria. 
ISat. Or</. PoMACEiE, lAnn. AuRANTl^, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx S-cleft. Petals 5, oblong. Anthers 20, 
with filaments united into several bundles. Berries 9-ceIled. 
Spec. Char. Petioles linear. 
This beautiful species of Citrus is the MvjAfa /xv]J/mv) of Theo- 
phrastus and Dioscorides : it is a native of Assyria and Persia, from 
whence it was brought to Greece, and afterwards to Italy,f and suc- 
cessively propagated in other parts of southern Europe, and the 
West India Islands, where it is now in general cultivation. The 
orange tind lemon is now extensively cultivated throughout Spain, 
Portugal, and the islands in the Atlantic belonging to these countries, 
from which places, England and the North of Europe are supplied. 
The fruit for exportation is pulled while yet green, rolled separately 
in paper, and packed in boxes ; it is seldom perfectly ripe for 
some time after it conies to this country. 
In England, this beautiful evergreen forms one of the greatest 
ornaments in our green houses; it was first cultivated in the Oxford 
Botanic Garden about the year l(i48. f The lemon tree in this 
country may be propagated, and the most approved varieties con- 
tinued, by budding or inarching them on stocks raised from seed ; as 
the younger trees however are annually imported from Spain, Italy, 
and Portugal, this method is seldom practised. The lemon tree is 
remarkable for its fertility, so much so, that in Italy it is proverbial. 
We are told, a wager was laid in 1812, by Signer Antonio Georgeri, 
of Massa, with the Marchese Calani, of Spezia, that at CresuUo, half 
* Fig. a. Tbe pistillum. b. Two separate parcels of staiaens. c. The calyx, rf. A 
seed, e, A section of the fruit. 
t Paladins is supposed to have introduced the lemon tree into Italy, although thig 
has been doubted by some writers, but as the cultivation of this tree is not noticed by 
writers prior to Pliny, it is evident it could not have been propagated there long before 
bis time, 
X Vide Hort. Kewensis* 
