''Citrus glauca'', commonly known as the desert lime, is a thorny shrub or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

native to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

.Burkill, Isaac Henry. 1932. Gardens' Bulletin, Straits Settlements 5 (Index): 3. ''Citrus glauca''.Citrus pages, Native Australian Citrus, ''Citrus glauca''
The 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records common names native kumquat and desert lemon.

Taxonomy

Under the Swingle system, the desert lime was classified in the genus ''Eremocitrus'', a close relative of the genus ''

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

''. More recent taxonomy considers all the Australian limes to be included in the genus ''Citrus'', and most authorities treat the desert lime this way. ''Citrus glauca'' is one of the most

resilient Resilience, resilient, resiliency, or ''variation'', may refer to: Science Ecology * Ecological resilience, the capacity of an ecosystem to recover from perturbations ** Climate resilience, the ability of systems to recover from climate change * ...

''Citrus'' species, and is comparatively heat,

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, and cold tolerant. Hence the species is potentially important for ''Citrus''

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and ra ...

programs, and readily hybridises with many common ''Citrus'' species. CSIRO ScienceImage 3400 The Australian Outback Lime

Description

A shrub or small tree to , it has several unusual characteristics. It is cold, heat, drought and salinity tolerant and thought evergreen. If the rains should fail it will shed its leaves and live off the green bark on the plant branches. It will set fruit almost immediately after flowering and is the earliest citrus to do so. Fruit is small and variable and depends on current climatic conditions and genetic make-up. Thorns appear on low-growing branches to prevent grazing by rabbits, kangaroos, cattle etc. but cease on branches above the grazing level. The fruit is globular, and about half-an-inch in diameter. The limes have an intense piquant flavour, and good rainfall years produce an abundance of fruit.

Economic uses

The desert lime fruit is a highly prized

bushfood Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and used as sustenance by Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora or fauna used for culinary or ...

. Traditionally, it is wild-harvested from surviving bushland areas, where it is relatively common. However, ''C. glauca'' has also been extensively cleared from some areas due to the ongoing conversion of the wild bush into agricultural fields.Cherikoff, Vic, ''The Bushfood Handbook'', .Low, Tim, ''Wild Food Plants of Australia'', . The fruit are used in a range of products, including marmalades, beverages, and

succade Succade is the candied peel of any of the citrus species, especially from the citron or ''Citrus medica'' which is distinct with its extra-thick peel; in addition, the taste of the inner rind of the citron is less bitter than those of the other ...

. It has a strong lime-like flavour. The fruit is beginning to be domesticated. Commercial cultivation of this fruit is beginning to reduce the reliance on wild-harvested product.

Taxonomy, cultivars, and hybrids

Australian outback lime

The Australian Outback lime was selected by

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

scientists from the regular desert lime. It is characterised by its upright habit, relatively large, flavoursome fruit, high yield, uniform ripening time, lack of

thorns Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...

, and suitability for mechanical harvesting. The Australian Outback lime was cultivated at the former CSIRO Plant Industry site at

Merbein, Victoria Merbein is a town just north of Mildura, Victoria, in the Sunraysia region of Australia. It is on the Calder Highway between Mildura and the Murray River crossing at the Abbotsford Bridge to Curlwaa. At the , the town had a population of 1,981 ...

by Steve Sykes.

Hybrids

The eremolemon is thought to be a natural true-breeding

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

between ''Citrus glauca'' and '' Citrus meyeri''. It grows quickly and tolerates saline soil. ''

'' plants hybridise readily, other hybrids include eremoranges, eremoradias (hybrid with a

sour orange Bitter orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the citrus tree ''Citrus'' × ''aurantium'' and its fruit. It is native to Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of the world. It is probably a cross bet ...

) and citrangeremos (hybrid with a

citrange The citrange (a portmanteau of ''citrus'' and ''orange'') is a citrus hybrid of the sweet orange and the trifoliate orange. The purpose of this cross was to attempt to create a cold hardy citrus tree (which is the nature of a trifoliate), with d ...

Notes

References

* Bruneteau, Jean-Paul, ''Tukka, Real Australian Food'', . * Cherikoff, Vic, ''The Dining Downunder Cookbook'', .

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q50839729, from2=Q144618 Australian cuisine Bushfood glauca Crops originating from Australia Desert fruits Drought-tolerant trees Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of South Australia Sapindales of Australia Trees of Australia glauca