The lemon tree (Citrus silt) is small a Arbre of the family of the Rutacées, cultivated in the areas the Mediterranean and subtropical for its fruit the Citron, whose juice is used mainly like Condiment.

Common nouns: lemon tree, shaft horse. of: Zitrone, in: lemon, be: limonero, it: limone .

Description

It is a tree with persistent, oblong sheets lancéolées, with limb clearly articulated with the petiole. Nonwinged petiole. It can live approximately 80 years.

Flowers with petals purplished white, axillaires joined together in small groups. Oblong, pointed fruits from 8 to 12 cm length, initially green color transfering with the lemon-yellow yellow with maturity, acid pulp and thick bark containing a gasoline with strong odor. Contains some seeds with white cotyledons.

Culture

Ground and exposure

Originating in tropical areas where pluviometry reaches 1000 to 2000 mm/an, the lemon trees like a well drained always fresh ground but. Their roots are for the majority surface, and they do not appreciate the presence of grass where other plants which make them competition. They affectionnent the grounds slightly Acide S, or neutral. Certain understocks tolerate the grounds Calcaire S. Their greediness out of water can accelerate the scrubbing of the grounds: it is then necessary to fertilize. The lemon trees affectionnent the full sun particularly. It do not fear to be southern talks full even by strong heat wave. On the other hand they then fear the wind which could desiccate them.

Rusticity

One generally presents the lemon tree like resistant to temperatures of approximately -5°C. More precisely, the effects of the cold on the lemon trees are the following (the temperatures are given as an indication, and can vary few degrees according to the nature of the ground, the wind, moisture, carries it Clerc's Office…).

• until -3°C, the plant edge simply its growth and enters in vegetative rest; this rest is generally favorable and allows a better coloring of the fruits, a greater sugar concentration, as well as better taken again vegetation in spring. On the other hand, the cold is harmful if it lasts too much, this is why it is difficult to acclimatize the lemon trees on the Breton coasts where the winter temperatures however remain lenient.

• between -4°C and -6°C, the starts-up fade. They take again their strength when the temperature goes up, in a few hours or a few days, according to the severity of cold (the lower the temperature is, and the more durable fading is).
• in lower part of -7°C, the starts-up fade then in a few weeks take a desiccated aspect, then die.
• between -8°C and -10°C: a few weeks after freezing, the adult sheets are recroquevillent and desiccated at the same time as the starts-up. The recovery is made on all the more old wood as freezing was severe. It generally takes place as from next spring but it can run out more than one year before it takes place.
• in lower part of -11°C: all the air parts of the plant are reached and the plant generally dies; the recovery can possibly be done on the level of the ground, on the trunk.

The lemon tree in France

In France the culture of the lemon tree is confined with the Riviera (area of Menton) and with the Corsica .

Enemies of the lemon tree

In culture, the lemon tree is very sensitive to a cryptogamic Maladie, the badly secco , particularly in the areas at cold winter. The only effective answer consists in choosing a resistant variety.

And attention with the cochineal S and the red spiders: These last appreciate the hot and dry atmospheres which one meets in winter in the heated apartments. One can moisten the foliage on suspicion by vaporizing there several times per week of water not Calcaire and not chlorinated.

Use

• Harvest of the fruits, lemons. The majority of the varieties produce fruits all the year.
• the wood of lemon tree is used in cabinet work.
• its young person-growths are used in Gemmothérapie

External bonds

• GRIN 10732

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