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Fruit-bearing Trees - Citrus

Perhaps no other genus embraces as many fruit-bearing trees as citrus. The lemon, called Citrus limon by the botanists carrying the Tamil name of elumichai, the sour orange botanically called Citrus aurantifolia and known in Tamil as narthai, the citron botanically called Citrus medica and kadaranarthai in Tamil, the loose jacket orange, botanically named Citrus reticulata called kamalappazham in Tamil, the sweet orange with the botanical name of Citrus sinensis and sathugudi in Tamil and the grape fruit or pomelo, botanically known as Citrus decumana and bambaramas in Tamil are the more common of these.

Lime, sweet orange and kamala are the more common of them, easily recognised by the common man because of their extensive use in daily life. However, all citrus-es have great food value as also medicinal significance and not surprisingly therefore, the citrus fruits are familiar all over the world; indeed, references to these fruits are many in the medical lore of tribals in every part of the tropical world.

There is more than one good reason for clubbing all of the above-mentioned fruit trees under a single genus.

(A genus is a unit of plant classification: it embraces one to several sub-units, called species, all of which show many common morphologically similar traits.)

The morphological features common to all citrus-es are: 

• Spear-like hard and woody spines with sharp pointed ends arise in the axils of leaves, i.e. in the angle that each leaf makes with the stem.

• The leaf-blade is gland dotted. These are transluscent, becoming quite visible when held against light. These glands are lysigenously formed, i.e. by cells undergoing disintegration.

• In most of the citrus-es, the leaf stalks are flanked and fused with miniature versions of the blade, a trait that is often referred to as winged petiole. Once in a while, the wings grow out as full-fledged leaf blades, the leaf reverting to its ancestral, trifoliate (three-bladed) condition, exhibiting an atavistic tendency.

• The citrus fruit is special kind of berry called Hesperidium. Hesperidium is almost unique to the genus of citrus, oblong or globose in shape but of various sizes. The Hesperidium has a thick oil-gland dotted rind, green when unripe turning yellow as the fruit ripens; a thin, papery white albido on the inside of the rind and a many chambered endocarp with a few seeds in each chamber. From the inner walls of each chamber, grow transverse juice-called hairs, which constitute the edible part of the fruit.

All the citrus-es yield juice that is a great restorative. This quality of citrus juice is experienced by many of us in our daily lives. Such of us as have spent their school days during the '30s and '40s, long long before the present-day soft drinks came into the market would have noticed hard-running foot ballers and hockey players suck limes during intervals.

Many of us consume kamalappazhams and drink saathukudi juice during summer in order to beat the heat of the season. A glass of lime juice goes a long way to restore the energy level of the guest who dropped in at the height of a summer afternoon.

In my experience, nothing quenches one's thirst as a drink of carbonated soda water mixed with the juice of kichili pazham (a name used in the Siddha system of medicine), botanically the Citrus aurantium. An Ayurvedic preparation of citron (considered the original of the citrus-es) called Madiphala Rasayanam not only acts as a restorative but is also a corrective for menstrual disorders.

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According to some authorities, Citrus medica (citron) is the parent species from which the acid lime, or the lemon (limonum) and the sweet lime (limetta) sprang up. Citrus aurantium, the orange is considered the forerunner of Citrus decumana (pomelo or shaddock) a variety of which is the grape fruit, the Malta or Portugal orange (sathukudi), botanically Citrus sinensis and the kamalappazham (Citrus santara). The citrus is indeed the bugbear of the plant taxonomist, what with its wide geographical distribution and cultivation.

The pomelo or grape fruit deserves special mention because it is the largest of the citrus fruits. Moreover, the juicy hairs have an orange tinge, a colour not seen in any other citrus fruit.