Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/676

 662 ORANGE rutacece. Besides the orange in its many varie- ties, the genus citrus includes the lemon, lime, citron, bergamot, and shaddock, which are de- scribed under their own names ; but the de- scription of the genus will be given here. The species of citrus are shrubs or small trees, often spiny, with evergreen aromatic leaves, the blade of which is jointed to the petiole (the leaf being properly compound), which is usually winged. The very fragrant flowers are axillary, solitary, or in small clusters, and have four to eight thickish petals ; the stamens are numerous (20 to 60), with their filaments more or less united ; the single compound pistil has its many-celled ovary surrounded at the base by a conspicuous disk ; there is a single style and a knob-like lobed stigma. The fruit is a large thick-rinded berry, separated into nu- merous divisions by membranous partitions, each containing a few seeds surrounded by large cells filled with juice. The wood is hard, heavy, and close-grained ; the leaves, flowers, and rind of the fruit abound in aromatic oils, and the pulp of the fruit contains citric acid. Much confusion exists with regard to the num- ber of species in this genus. Hooker and Ben- tham limit it to five, while others make more 1. Section of Flower. 2. Section of Fruit. 8. Magnified Pistil. than that of oranges alone. Gallesio, who made a special study of the genus citrus, thinks that there are at least four species of orange, while on the other hand Bentham regards all the or- anges but as varieties of the wild citrus medica or citron. For the present purpose it is con- venient to regard the sweet oranges as varieties of G. aurantium, and the bitter ones as forms of C. vulgaris. All the species are natives of tropical India, and by cultivation have become distributed throughout the warmer portions of the globe. The sweet and bitter oranges are not distinguishable by any important botanical characters ; the bitter has a broader wing to the leaf stalk; the fruit has a rougher rind, which is of a deeper reddish color, and its juice is more sour and bitter ; all parts of the bitter orange are more strongly aromatic than the corresponding parts in the sweet orange. The orange was introduced into Arabia and Syria, from which it found its way to Italy, Sicily, and Spain, about the llth century; apparent- ly the bitter orange was first introduced, and there is reason to believe that the sweet was not cultivated until the 15th century. The first importation of oranges into England was in 1290, in a cargo of assorted fruit from Spain. Not only are oranges much disposed to sport, but they are affected by soil, cli- mate, and other conditions ; established forms cross with one another, as do the kinds so un- Orange with Horned Fruit like as to be regarded as species ; a great num- ber of named forms have resulted from one or another of these causes, some of which are singular monstrosities, such as those with horns, with one fruit produced from the centre of another, or those with the fruit deeply lobed varieties only known in rare collections, and recorded and beautifully figured in the elabo- rate work of Bisso and Poiteau. The time re- quired after blossoming for the orange to ma- ture varies in different climates ; it is at least six months, and sometimes much longer. It is frequently said in books of travel that* the flowering and ripening of the fruit are con- tinuous, and that the trees have blossoms, green fruit in all stages, and ripe fruit upon them, at the same time. The tree blooms but once a year, and the presence of ripe fruit at flowering time is due to the custom in some countries of allowing the fruit of the year before to remain upon the tree in order to attain greater perfec- tion. In Italy the fruit that goes into commerce is picked as soon as mature and yet green, while that reserved for home use hangs on the tree all winter, and is in its greatest perfection the following spring and summer. The Seville orange of commerce is a bitter variety, not