Oct. io, 1913 
Citrus Ichangensis 
*3 
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED NOTICES OF THE SUBSPECIES 
Very little has been published concerning this plant. The first notice 
seems to have been given it in 1874 by Edmund Goeze, who lists it as 
“ Citrus laiipes Hook. fil. et Th. A very peculiar species from India/’ 1 
In 1875 J. D. Hooker, in his Flora of British India, 1 2 cited it under 
the name “C. laiipes Hook. f. and Thoms. Herb. Ind. Or.” as a synonym 
of C. histrix DC., an erroneous determination doubtless due to the lack 
of flowers and mature fruits in the Khasi material at his disposal. The 
name “Citrus laiipes Hook. f. and Thoms.” is a nomen nudum without 
standing in taxonomy, since no description has been published under it. 
Efforts are being made to secure ripe fruits and viable seeds of this 
interesting tree, which, like the Chinese form of the species, promises to 
be very cold resistant. 
POSSIBLE USES OF CITRUS ICHANGENSIS 
Mr. E. H. Wilson informs the writer that the form of this species culti¬ 
vated in the Ichang region yields an excellent fruit known to foreign 
residents of the Yangtze Valley as the “ Ichang lemon.” These fruits are 
shipped down the river to Hankow and west well into Szechwan, and 
are so much esteemed as to command good prices. 
The large size of the seeds makes it probable that Citrus ichangensis will 
produce very vigorous seedlings, and hence it is likely to be of value as a 
stock on which to graft other citrous fruits. These numerous large seeds, 
which promise to render this plant so valuable as a stock, have the draw¬ 
back of greatly reducing the proportion of juice, because of the space 
they take up. However, experience has shown that it is relatively a 
simple matter to breed nearly seedless varieties of citrous fruits by 
selection or hybridization. 
So far as is now known, Citrus ichangensis is native farther north than 
any other evergreen species of Citrus, only the deciduous Citrus trifoliata 
having a more northerly range. Besides having the northernmost range 
of any known evergreen species of Citrus it occurs at the highest altitudes 
reported for any wild species of the genus. In the Hsingshan District, 
in latitude 31 0 10', Mr. Wilson collected this plant at an altitude of 4,200 
feet, and P&re Cavalerie found it in central Kweichow at a height of 
5,577 feet. 
At Moflong in the Khasi Hills, Hooker and Thomson found the Khasi 
subspecies growing wild at an altitude of 6,000 feet. As to the winter 
climate of this part of Assam J. D. Hooker says: 
In November the vegetation above 4,000 feet turns wintry and brown, the weather 
becomes chilly, and though the cold is never great, hoarfrost forms at Churra, and 
water freezes at Moflong. 3 
1 Translation from Goeze, Edmund, 1874. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Orangengewackse. Ham¬ 
burg, p. 19* 
2 Hooker, J. D., 1875. Flora of British India, v. 1, London, p. 515. 
3 Hooker, J. D., 1854. Himalayan Journals, v. 2, London, p. 323. 
