Bot. [L.: cf. Gr. κιτρέα, κίτριον citron-tree, κίτρον citron. Prob. ultimately of Eastern origin, the citron being described by Theophrastus as growing in Media, whence also the name μῆλον μηδικόν Median apple, and the specific name Citrus Mēdica.]
1. The Latin name of the citron-tree, now used as the name of the genus that includes the citron, lemon, lime, orange, shaddock, and their many varieties.
It is still a question how many of these are specifically distinct. Lindley inclined to consider the whole as long-established varieties of the citron Citrus Medica. Hooker reckons about 5 good species, viz. C. Medica citron (with C. Limonum lemon, and C. Limetta sweet lime, as varieties or sub-species), C. Aurantium orange, C. decumana shaddock, and two others. The native region of these appears to be northern India, esp. about the eastern end of the Himalayas. The earliest known in the west was the citron, cultivated by the 4th c. B.C. in Western Asia, whence it was obtained by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The orange and lemon were found in India by the Arabs, and by them carried westward, reaching Southern Europe about the 12th or 13th c.
1882. W. H. Bishop, in Harper’s Mag., Dec., 59/2. The lands suitable for the cultivation of the ‘citrus fruits,’ too, are limited in extent.
1883. Helen Hunt Jackson, in Century Mag., XXVI. 804/1. Citrus fruits do not flourish in this belt.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 139. The orange, lemon, shaddock, pomelo, and every description of citrus, were weighed down by their own golden fruit.
2. The name by which the Romans knew an African tree, probably Callitris quadrivalvis, the fragrant wood of which was highly prized for making furniture.
1865. Daubeny, Trees, etc. 40.
