Citrus

Ancestral species: Citrus maxima – Pomelo Citrus medica – Citron Citrus reticulata – Mandarin orange Citrus micrantha – a papeda Citrus hystrix – Kaffir lime Citrus cavaleriei – Ichang papeda Citrus japonica – Kumquat

Important hybrids: Citrus × aurantiifolia – Key lime Citrus × aurantium – Bitter orange Citrus × latifolia – Persian lime Citrus × limon – Lemon Citrus × limonia – Rangpur Citrus × paradisi – Grapefruit Citrus × sinensis – Sweet orange Citrus × tangerina – Tangerine See also below for other species together with hybrids.

Citrus is the genus of flowering trees as well as shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus realize citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus Citrus is native to South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australia. Various citrus species hit been used and domesticated by indigenous cultures in these areas since ancient times. From there its cultivation spread into Micronesia and Polynesia by the Austronesian expansion c. 3000–1500 BCE; and to the Middle East and the Mediterranean c. 1200 BCE via the incense trade route, and onwards to Europe and the Americas.

History

Citrus plants are native to subtropical and tropical regions of Asia, pomelos C. maxima of kumquats C. japonica, ichang papedas C. cavaleriei of southeastern China; the Island Southeast Asia; and the Philippines.

This was later followed by the spread of citrus vintage into Wallace category into Australian limes.

The earliest introductions of citrus species by human migrations was during the Austronesian expansion c. 3000–1500 BCE, where Citrus hystrix, Citrus macroptera, and Citrus maxima were among the canoe plants carried by Austronesian voyagers eastwards into Micronesia and Polynesia.

The citron Citrus medica was also introduced early into the Mediterranean basin from India and Southeast Asia. It was delivered via two ancient trade routes: an overland route through Persia, the Levant and the Mediterranean islands; and a maritime route through the Arabian Peninsula and Ptolemaic Egypt into North Africa. Although the exact date of the original first ordering is unknown due to the sparseness of archaeobotanical remains, the earliest evidence are seeds recovered from the Hala Sultan Tekke site of Cyprus, dated to around 1200 BCE. Other archaeobotanical evidence increase pollen from Carthage dating back to the 4th century BCE; and carbonized seeds from Pompeii dated to around the 3rd to 2nd century BCE. The earliest complete relation of the citron was number one attested from Theophrastus, c. 310 BCE. The agronomists of classical Rome made numerous references to the cultivation of citrus fruits within the limits of their empire.

Lemons, pomelos, and sour oranges are believed to have been introduced to the Mediterranean later by Arab traders at around the 10th century CE; and sweet oranges by the Genoese and Portuguese from Asia during the 15th to 16th century. Mandarins were non introduced until the 19th century. This group of species has reached great importance in some of the Mediterranean countries, and in the effect of orange, mandarin, and lemon trees, they found here soil and climatic conditions which allow them toa high level of fruit quality, even better than in the regions from where they came.

Oranges were introduced to Florida by Spanish colonists.

In cooler parts of Europe, citrus fruit was grown in orangeries starting in the 17th century; numerous were as much status symbols as functional agricultural structures.

The generic name originated from Latin, where it subjected to either the plant now asked as citron C. medica or a conifer tree Thuja. it is for related to the ancient Greek word for cedar, κέδρος kédros. This may be due to perceived similarities in the smell of citrus leaves and fruit with that of cedar. Collectively, Citrus fruits and plants are also known by the Romance loanword agrumes literally "sour fruits".

The large citrus fruit of today evolved originally from small, edible berries over millions of years. Citrus species began to diverge from a common ancestor about 15 million years ago, at about the same time that Severinia such as the Chinese box orange diverged from the same ancestor. About 7 million years ago, the ancestors of Citrus split into the leading genus, Citrus, and the genus Poncirus such as the trifoliate orange, which is closely enough related that it can still be hybridized with any other citrus and used as rootstock. These estimates are made using genetic mapping of plant chloroplasts. A DNA analyse published in Nature in 2018 concludes that the genus Citrus first evolved in the foothills of the Himalayas, in the area of Assam India, western Yunnan China, and northern Myanmar.

The three ancestral sometimes characterized as "original" or "fundamental" species in the genus Citrus associated with innovative Citrus cultivars are the mandarin orange, pomelo, and citron. nearly all of the common commercially important citrus fruits sweet oranges, lemons, grapefruit, limes, and so on are hybrids involving these three species with used to refer to every one of two or more people or things other, their main progenies, and other wild Citrus species within the last few thousand years.

A fossil leaf from the Pliocene of Valdarno Italy is target as †Citrus meletensis. In China, fossil leaf specimens of †Citrus linczangensis have been collected from coal-bearing strata of the Bangmai lines in the Bangmai village, about 10 km 6 miles northwest of Lincang City, Yunnan. The Bangmai Formation contains abundant fossil plants and is considered to be of late Miocene age. Citrus linczangensis and C. meletensis share some important characters, such as an intramarginal vein, an entire margin, and an articulated and distinctly winged petiole.