68  Orange  Flowers  and  Oranges.  {^fIk^™* 
ORANGE  FLOWERS  AND  ORANGES  FROM  THE 
SOUTHERN  STATES. 
By  W.  B.  Rush. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meetings  "January  ai. 
Flowers  and  fruits  of  Citrus  aurantium  and  of  Citrus  vulgaris,  nau 
order,  Aurantiaceae.  Anthers,  twenty;  calyx,  five-cleft;  petals,  five;, 
fruit  containing  about  nine  cells. 
This  interesting  genus  is  composed  of  small,  evergreen,  much- 
branched  trees,  growing  about  15  feet  high,  and  having  coriaceous,, 
ovate,  shining  leaves,  and  odoriferous  flowers  and  fruits,  which  combine 
beauty  and  color  with  pleasant  taste  and  odor.  The  leaves  are  pale 
green  and,  when  bruised,  have  a  very  fragrant  odor  and  a  warm,  pun- 
gent taste.    They  contain  volatile  oil. 
Of  the  eight  species  of  Citrus,  yielding  interesting  flowers  and 
fruit,  the  sweet  and  sour  oranges,  limes,  shaddocks,  lemons  and  citrons 
are  the  ones  interesting  to  us.  The  flowers,  which  have  a  delightful 
odor,  are  large,  white  and  attached  by  short  peduncles  simply  or  in 
clusters  to  the  smallest  branches.  The  petals  are  oblong,  white,  con- 
cave and  beset  with  numerous  small  glands.  The  filaments  are  united, 
at  their  base  in  three  or  more  distinct  groups  and  support  yellow  an- 
thers. The  calyx  is  saucer-shaped  with  pointed  teeth.  The  flowers 
in  the  several  varieties  differ  in  color  and  odor.  The  orange  flowers 
are  of  a  creamy  white  ;  those  of  the  limes  and  lemons  violet-blue,, 
and  of  the  citrons  and  shaddocks  same  as  the  oranges.  The  sour  or 
wild  orange  flowers  possess  the  largest  amount  of  volatile  oil. 
The  writer  has  had  some  experience  in  orange  culture,  extending, 
over  a  period  of  two  years,  at  New  Orleans,  and  closely  watched  the 
different  stages  of  growth  from  seed  to  the  full  bearing  tree. 
In  Florida  the  orange,  lemon  and  lime  grow  wild  and  are  found  in 
abundance.  In  Lousiana  and  Mississippi  they  are  grown  from  the 
seed.  The  seeds  are  planted  in  early  spring  or  in  hot-beds  in  January. 
When  one  year  old,  they  are  transplanted  in  a  nursery  arrangement. 
At  the  age  of  two  and  a  half  years,  they  are  budded,  i.  e.,  the  seed- 
lings are  of  the  sour  variety,  and  to  produce  sweet  oranges  fully  ma- 
tured buds  are  taken  from  bearing  trees  and  inserted.  This  is  done  to 
render  the  tree  more  hardy,  since  the  sweet  seedlings  are  subject  to  a 
root  disease  called  heel,  while  the  sour  seedlings  are  not.  Hence,, 
orange  growers  resort  to  this  means  to  produce  sweet  oranges.  The 
