Palestine Sweet Lime Budwood

Citrus limettiodes.

The limûn helou or succari of Egypt, the tree is medium-large with an irregular spreading form.  The flowers are pure white, and the new growth is bright green.  The fruits are small, round to slightly oblong, and have a thin, smooth, rind with prominent oil glands.  At maturity, the rind is pale green to orange-yellow.  The flesh is pale yellow, tender and juicy, with some seeds.  The flavor is insipid due to the lack of acidity in the fruit but is appealing to some.  Palestinian sweet lime is also used as a citrus rootstock. 

Fruit medium in size, subglobose to oblong or short-elliptic, sometimes faintly ribbed; base evenly rounded; apex commonly rounded; areolar area often protruded into a low, flat nipple surrounded by a shallow circular furrow.  Seeds few, highly polyembryonic; chalazal spot light tan; cotyledons faint green.  Rind thin to very thin; surface smooth to very smooth with prominent oil glands flush with surface; tightly adherent; color greenish to orange yellow at maturity.  Aroma of rind oil distinctive.  Segments about 10; axis medium in size and semi-hollow at maturity.  Flesh color straw-yellow; tender, very juicy; flavor insipid because of lack of acid, and with slightly bitter aftertaste.  Single bloom and crop.

Tree distinctive in appearance, medium-large in size and of spreading but irregular growth habit, with thick, thorny branches; foliage medium-dense.  Leaves pale green, medium in size, long-oval, blunt-pointed, and characteristically cupped or rolled, with petioles wing-margined rather than winged as in most limes.  Flowers medium-large, pure white, and new shoot growth pure green.

This sweet lime is remarkably affected by climatic influences.  Desert-grown fruit differs so greatly in size, color, form, and rind texture from that produced in the cool, equable coastal region that the inexperienced observer would consider them to be different fruits.

Rootstocks of accession: Yuma Ponderosa lemon.

Prepared by the Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection at The University of California Riverside.