WILD ORANGE TREE. 
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whether we should attribute it to Japan or the islands of 
the Pacific, more particularly the Philippines. 
The duration of the Orange tree, in the countries where 
it is indigenous, is no doubt very great. Many of those 
cultivated in the maritime Alps of France, are more than 
250 years of age; and according to Risso, a wind from the 
S. S. E. in February 1807, overturned in the commune of 
Esa, citron trees which were more than 500 years old. 
Tamara and Ferrarius both describe an Orange tree, 
planted in the year 1200 by Saint Dominick, in the garden 
of the convent of Saint Sabine in Rome, which is said still 
to exist. 
The Orange is considered the most beautiful tree of 
Europe ; the majesty and regularity of its form, the bril- 
liant and unfading green of its graceful foliage, its white 
and fragrant flowers, and splendid fruit, strike the beholder 
with admiration. Its beauty is not transient like that of 
ordinary orchard trees, but nearly throughout the year it 
is luxuriantly adorned with flowers and fruit. The culti- 
vated Orange attains the height of 25 to 30 feet, with a 
circumference of 2 or 3 feet. The wild Orange of Florida, 
however, acquires a greater height than those which I 
have observed in cultivation in the Azores. The wood is 
compact, close and fine grained, very hard, and suscep- 
tible of a fine polish, slightly veined, and suitable for inlaid 
work. The wood of the Wild or Bitter Orange is pre- 
ferred by chemists because of its superior density. The 
leaves have also a more powerful odor, distilled they give 
a bitter aromatic water, known in Languedoc by the name 
of PEau de Naples. By the same operation is also ob- 
tained an essential oil of a better quality than that from 
the leaves of the true orange. The Orange-Flower Water , 
a well known perfume, is obtained also from this species. 
It is praised for its cordial virtues, and as a cephalic, vermi- 
fuge, and antispasmodic. The fruit is made great use of 
