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THE LEMON
Lemon, common name for a small thorny tree, and for its
fruit.
Lemon trees are cultivated throughout the tropical and
subtropical regions
of the world, particularly in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and
California Lemons
were first brought from the Middle East to Spain and
northern Africa during
the Middle Ages. The cultivated lemon is probably a hybrid
of two wild
species, most likely lime and citron.
Lemon trees grow to be about 10 to 20 ft tall and are
sparsely
covered with foliage. The flower has five sepals, five
petals, numerous
stamens, and a solitary pistil. The upper surface of each
petal is white,
and the lower surface is pinkish. Lemon flowers have a
sweet odor
comparable to, but less marked than, the odor of orange
flowers.
The lemon fruit is a pale-yellow, elliptically shaped
berry, which usually
has a small, nipple like protuberance at the apex. The
exocarp layer is the
leathery rind, containing oil of lemon, which is used in
the manufacture of
perfumes and lemon flavoring. The nearly tasteless, spongy,
white layer
beneath the rind is the mesocarp, which contains a
substance called
citrin or vitamin P. The pulp, which comprises the endocarp
layer,
consists of eight to ten segments containing small,
pointed, yellowish
white seeds.
Most cultivated lemon varieties are hybrids that produce
little or no true
bred seed. The trees are planted in fertile soil to
which fertilizer is
continually added. The rows are spaced 15 to 25 ft apart,
depending on
the variety planted and the climate and topography of the
region. Except
when extreme temperatures delay blooming, fruits are
produced
throughout the year. Green, almost ripe, fruit is picked
from each tree six
to ten times yearly and is ripened at moderately warm
temperatures.
Mature lemon trees may produce between 1,000 and
2,000 fruits per year.
Lemon juice is used widely as a drink; as a constituent of
drinks, salad
dressings, and fish dressings; and as a flavoring. Lemon
pulp was formerly
used commercially in the manufacturing of citric acid, and
is now used in
making concentrated lemon juice, which is used medicinally
for its high
vitamin C content.
The main types of lemons produced in the United States are
the Eureka,
the Lisbon, the Genoa, the Sicily, the Belair, and the
Villafranca. Some
lemons are produced in Arizona and Florida, but most of the
commercial
crop is grown in southern California, where production
averages about 90
percent of the annual U.S. output.
The lemon belongs to the family
Rutaceae. It is classified as
Citris limon |
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