As you can see from the photo this fruit is bumpy and is yellow at the bottom and gets more orange as you get closer to the stem. It peels like a mandarin, but the flesh is pale yellow and very sour which leads me to believe it's a lemon of sorts. Please help it's driving me nuts! There are several of these trees on our street and produce a lot of fruit. Thanks!
It may be Citrus jambhiri, Rough Lemon. Does the description in this document fit the tree and its fruit?
Could be a hybrid between tangerine and lemon; the mandarin (Citrus reticulata) would supply the easy-peel quality. All citrus will hybridise readily (most of them are hybrids anyway!), and if it was grown from a pip from a fruit that had been open-pollinated, the options are almost endless. One major genetic study showed that there are only three genuine Citrus species (mandarin C. reticulata, pomelo C. maxima, and citron C. medica), with all the rest being various hybrid combinations.
Thanks for responding. I've attached another inside view and you can more clearly see the differences between what I have and the rough lemon you mentioned. Mine are baseball sized and a bit flattened at the bottom. The membrane between rind and flesh is very light and airy so when you hold one you can feel the space between. Hope this helps. Thanks!
Ooops, I was looking at the picture of the Meyer lemon. It does look like I have a rough lemon! Thanks a lot.
Rough Lemon has been used as street tree plantings in the Los Angeles area for many years. I remember them being around when I was a young lad living in San Pedro. As I remember it Rough Lemon was the first understock used for grafting Citrus in the old Southern California Citrus belt. I am glad to see these are still around as I don't get down to the LA basin nearly as often as I used to. Jim
Re: What is this citrus? (somewhat OT) I'm somewhat surprised the city will allow this because of possible liability issues. Don't falling fruit pose a hazard to pedestrians underneath?
I'm somewhat surprised the city will allow this because of possible liability issues. Don't falling fruit pose a hazard to pedestrians underneath? At one time there was a lot more Citrus in the Southern California basin than there were people. Certain city charters and ordinances have allowed for these trees to be planted, although I bet there has not been too many new plantings in the more urbanized areas. As we saw in a UBC BG thread a long while back one city not too far from Ventura will not allow any live tree to be cut down within the city limits. There are cities in the Southern California region that will not care if the fruit drops on a car or on a pedestrian, the old trees have the right of way and have the right to be right where they are. It is up to us to work with and around them, not the reverse. We are now dealing with old and seldom talked about Southern California tradition but it is still alive and well in many areas. The people that have lived in the area for many years will know what I mean. Jim
Thanks for the information. I really love our tree, when the lemons drop and fall down our driveway we announce "Lemon Delivery!" My son absolutely loves picking them and making lemonade and I have an abundant supply for cooking. As far as the liability issue, the city seems to have it's hands full with dropping limbs from eucalyptus and swamp mahogany so the lemons are pretty tame in comparison! Stacy
