Many ancient travelers mentioned the pleasing appearance of citrus trees and the fruit, although the fruit of citrus trees had not evolved to the point of becoming an important staple food, the fragrance of all parts of citrus trees, including flowers and fruit, they were desirable room perfumers and thought to repel insects.

The presence of citrus in Europe and the Middle East was thought to have been due to natural native trees and shrubs, but historians today believe that the ancestor of citrus trees, Citrus medica L., was introduced by Alexander the Great from India. in Greece, Turkey, and North Africa at the end of the 4th century B.C. The oldest citrus was called ‘lemon’.

There are ancient clues from wall paintings in the Egyptian temple at Karnak that citrus trees had been growing there. There were other suggestions that citrus trees may have been familiar to the Jews during their exile and enslavement by the Babylonians in the 6th century BCE. Although speculation suggests that citrus trees were known to and cultivated by the Hebrews, there is no direct mention in the Bible of citrus.

The first record of citrus, Citrus medica L., in European history was made by Theophrastus, in 350 BC. C., after the introduction of the fruit by Alexander the Great.

In early European history, writers wrote of Persian citrus, which had a wonderful fragrance and was thought to be a remedy for poisoning, a breath sweetener, and a repellent for moths.

Citrus was well known to the ancient cultures of the Greeks and later the Romans. A beautiful ceramic tile was found in the ruins of Pompeii after the city was destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Another mosaic tile in the ruins of a Roman villa in Carthage, North Africa, about in the 2nd century AD it clearly showed the fruit of a lemon and a lemon fruit growing on a tree branch.

Early Christian tile mosaics dating from AD 300. C. of oranges and lemons were shown in lemon yellow and orange colors surrounded by bright green leaves and freshly cut tree branches; the relics can still be seen in Istanbul, Turkey, in mosques that were once churches of Emperor Constantine.

It is not known how, where, or when today’s exceptional varieties of citrus, such as sweet orange, lemon, kumquat, lime, pomelo, or pomelo, developed, but there seems to be a general consensus of opinion that all of these Citrus developments and improvements were obtained by natural and artificial selection and natural evolution. It is well known that the Romans were familiar with the sour orange, Citrus aurantium L., and the lemon tree, Citrus limon. After the fall of Rome to barbarian and Muslim invasions, Arab states rapidly spread naturally improving citrus cultivars and trees throughout much of North Africa, Spain and Syria. The spread of the sour orange, Citrus aurantium L., and lemon, Citrus limon, spread the cultivation and planting of these trees globally by planting the seed, which produced citrus trees very similar to the parent trees. The Crusades conquest of the Arabs later spread the planting and cultivation of citrus throughout Europe.

The sweet orange, Citrus sinensis, appeared at the end of the 15th century, around the time of Christopher Columbus, who discovered America. After trade routes were closed when the Turks defeated the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453, centered in Constantinople (Istanbul), many European kings began looking for alternative trade routes to open up shipping trade with China and India. The introduction of the sweet orange in Europe changed the dynamics of the importance of citrus in the world. The voyage of the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gamma recorded that in 1498 there were plenty of orange trees in India and all the fruits tasted sweet. The new variety of sweet orange, known as “Portugal orange”, caused a dramatic increase in citrus planting, much like the much later appearance of the introduction of the “Washington navel orange” tree in California.

The lime, Citrus latifolia, was first mentioned in European history by Sir Thomas Herbert in his book Travels, who recorded finding “oranges, lemons, and limes” growing on the island of Mozambique in the mid-17th century. Today’s limes are available in many cultivars.

In 1707, Spanish missions grew oranges, figs, quinces, pomegranates, peaches, apricots, apples, pears, mulberries, pecans, and other trees according to horticultural documents.

The mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata, was described in Chinese history in the late 12th century, but was unknown in Europe until it was brought from a mandarin province in China to England in 1805, where it spread rapidly throughout Europe.

Grapefruit, Citrus grandis, also called shaddock and ‘Adam’s apple’ grew in Palestine in the early 13th century and was planted and cultivated by the Arabs. Grapefruit is believed to have an Asian origin and was planted as a seed in the New World.

Grapefruit, Citrus paradisi, is believed to have arisen as a mutation of the pomelo tree. Grapefruit was so named because it grew in clusters like grapes, but was considered inedible by most gardeners until A.L. Duncan found an outstanding grapefruit called the Duncan grapefruit in 1892; the original tree is still alive and growing in Florida.

Christopher Columbus introduced citrus to the island of Haiti in 1493. It is believed that he brought citrus seeds to plant and grow sour orange, sweet orange, citron, lemon, lime, and grapefruit. Records show that these citrus trees were well established in the American colonies around 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida, and on coastal South Carolina.

William Bartram reported in his celebrated botanical book, Travels, in 1773 that Henry Laurens of Charleston, South Carolina, who served as president of the Continental Congresses, introduced “olives, limes, ginger, perennial strawberry, red raspberry, and blue grapes.” . to the colonies of the United States after the year 1755.

William Bartram in his book Travels, reported that near Savannah, Georgia, “it is interesting to note that up to 1790, oranges were grown in some quantity along the coast, and in that year about 3,000 gallons of orange juice were exported.” .”

Many of these wild orange groves were seen by the American explorer William Bartram, according to his book Travels, in 1773, while traveling up the Saint John River in Florida. Bartram mistakenly thought that these orange trees were native to Florida; however, they were established centuries before by Spanish explorers.

The citrus industry began to develop rapidly in 1821 when the Spanish ceded their territories and many orange groves to the United States. Groves of wild orange trees were top worked with improved cultivars and residents who traveled to Florida realized how refreshing orange juice tasted; thus began shipments of oranges, grapefruit, limes, and lemons being sent to Philadelphia and New York by rail and ship in the 1880s.

Spanish missionaries made extensive citrus plantations in California; however, the commercial industry began to grow with the gold rush boom of 1849, and efforts to supply San Francisco miners with citrus were successful. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad further stimulated the citrus industry, as citrus could be quickly shipped to eastern markets. Later refrigeration improvements helped increase the cultivation and planting of citrus fruits, primarily oranges, lemons, and limes, throughout the world in 1889.

Florida at first dominated citrus production in the United States, but due to some devastating frosts in 1894 and 1899, Satsuma orange trees were virtually wiped out in the Gulf States. Thousands of acres of Satsuma orange groves were wiped out in Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana in the frost of 1916; thus, United States citrus production began to shift from Florida to California.

Citrus is marketed worldwide as a health-promoting fruit containing vitamin C and many other vitamins and minerals in orange and citrus products, lime jam, fresh fruit, and packaged frozen citrus juice concentrates. hot.

Copyright 2006 Patrick Malcolm