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Lemon is a medium-sized evergreen tree of the citrus genus. Its fruits are consumed fresh, used in cooking, medicine, production of cosmetics, perfumes, and canned food. Lemon varieties are divided into ground, greenhouse and indoor. In a tropical climate, the crop bears fruit all year round. The plant is durable, can live more than 100 years. The fruits contain vitamins A, P, group B, iron salts, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, pectins, and phytoncides. The following will describe the most popular varieties and hybrids of lemons.
Variety of types and varieties of lemon
According to their growth form, lemons are divided into tree-like and bush-like. The former grow up to 6-8 m, the latter reach 2-3 m in height. Varieties are divided into botanical and commercial. The latter depend on the condition of the fruits taken from one plant:
- Primafiore – this is the name given to small, dark green fruits, highly acidic fruits from the first flowers.
- Bianchetti – collected during the period of technical ripeness. At this time they are no longer green, but not yet yellow.
- Bastardo – lemons at the stage of full ripeness. Large, thick-skinned, with an oily skin. They reveal all the rich taste and aroma inherent in the fruits of this species.
The color of the peel and pulp of sour citrus fruits is varied, various shades of yellow, green, and orange are possible. The fruit is a multilocular berry (hesperidium), surrounded by a pericarp. It can have an oval, teardrop-shaped, pear-shaped, round shape, often supplemented by a neck at the base and a nipple at the end.
How many types of lemon are there?
Among other citrus fruits, lemon is represented by the largest number of species and varieties. According to morphological and genetic characteristics they are divided into 4 groups:
- Common lemon – combines plants with sour fruits, light yellow in color, oval in shape with narrowing at both ends, and a hard-to-remove rind. It bears fruit generously and is heat and drought resistant. Represented by the Eureka and Lisbon varieties. The variety Eureka was bred at the end of the twentieth century in California. These are trees with a loose spherical crown, weakly thorny shoots, medium-sized fruits with rough or slightly ribbed skin. Lemons belonging to the Lisbon variety are tall plants with a densely leafy oval crown formed from erect, strongly spiny shoots. They produce large fruits with a smooth, shiny skin. Cultivated in Southeast and Central Asia, Southern Europe, and the Caucasus.
- Sweet – includes varieties with juicy, low-acidic and pleasant-tasting fruit pulp. Their skin color can be yellow, yellowish-green, light orange, and their shape can be round or elongated-round. They arose as a result of various citrus hybridizations. They are grown in the Mediterranean countries, Western Asia, and Western India.
- Rough – trees up to 3-4 m in height, with a round or conical crown, thick, weakly thorny shoots.The fruits are oval or pear-shaped with a wide nipple at the end, thick wrinkled, rough, sometimes bumpy or wrinkled skin. The pulp is grayish-yellow, moderately sour, has medium juiciness and contains a large number of seeds. Cultivated in South Asia and Latin America.
- Different – this group includes hybrids with sour and sweet fruits. These are interspecific combinations that combine the properties of 2 or more citrus plants. There are also double varieties that produce sour and sweet fruits on one tree.
Most types of lemon begin to bear fruit 3-4 years after planting, reaching maximum yield by 10 years.
How many varieties of lemon are there?
There are about 150 varieties of sour citrus in the world, and up to 14 million fruits of this plant are harvested annually. The crop is grown on an industrial scale all over the world; the leaders are India, Mexico, Argentina, China, and Brazil. This is a capricious plant, demanding on temperature and humidity conditions and soil composition. In the southern regions it is grown in open ground, in cold areas - in greenhouses and tubs. The most popular varieties:
- Villafranca - a tree with a densely leafy spreading crown. The variety was developed in the USA. The fruits are medium-sized, oblong-oval, have fine-grained, juicy, tender, aromatic pulp. The skin is smooth, dense, of medium thickness. At the end there is a short, blunt nipple with a semicircular groove at the base. The variety is early-bearing and begins to bear fruit in the 3rd year after planting.
- Genoa - a low-growing, moderately leafy tree without thorns.The fruits are oblong-oval with a sharp nipple at the top. The pulp is tender, juicy, grayish-yellow. The skin is yellow or greenish-yellow, slightly rough, dense, thick, and has a sweetish taste. The variety is highly productive: up to 180 fruits are collected from an adult tree.
- Novogruzinsky - a high-yielding variety, bred at the Sukhumi experimental station, grown on an industrial scale in Georgia and Abkhazia. The tree grows up to 2 m in height and has a dense spreading crown. It begins to bear fruit at 4-5 years. The fruits are elongated-oval, with a wide blunt nipple, the peel is shiny, smooth, of medium thickness. The pulp has a delicate sourness and a strong aroma. In open ground it produces up to 100 fruits per year. The average fruit weight is 120 g.
- Commune - an ancient high-yielding Italian variety. A tree of medium height, with sparse small thorns. The fruits are large, oval, and do not contain seeds. The pulp is tender, juicy, aromatic, strongly acidic. The peel is lumpy, not thick.
- Drummer – launched in 1939 in Batumi. The tree is medium-sized, with a broad-oval, densely leafy crown and strongly spiny shoots. The fruits are large, oval, with a wide nipple and a slightly ribbed base in the form of a neck. The peel is smooth, rough, yellow. The pulp is sour, tender, greenish-yellow.
- Tashkent – bred by breeder Z. Fakhrutdinov. A compact, low-growing tree produces many small fruits (80-90 g) with thin skin and delicate orange pulp. It blooms and bears fruit twice a year, and is prone to harvest overload.
- Anniversary – bred by Tashkent citrus grower Z. Fakhrutdinov by crossing the Novogruzinsky and Tashkent varieties. A low-growing tree begins to bear fruit in the 2nd year. Lemons are oblong-shaped, thick-skinned, weighing from 500 g.The Yubileiny variety is unpretentious, hardy, productive, and capable of 100% fruit set in conditions of low humidity and elevated temperatures.
- World – obtained from crossing the Novogruzinsky lemon and the Sochi orange variety. Tall spreading tree without thorns. The fruits are round, thin-skinned, large - up to 300 g, grow singly or in clusters of 5 pieces.
Achievements of breeders or a little about hybrids
Lemons are constantly undergoing breeding improvements. They are crossed with other citrus fruits to improve their appearance and taste. Here are some of them:
- Rosso - a hybrid of lemon and citron, has a yellow with red rind and highly colored pulp.
- Bizzaro – a high-yielding variety, the thick bright yellow thick peel of the teardrop-shaped fruits has relief longitudinal outgrowths.
- Borneo - outwardly does not stand out among other varieties of lemons, it is notable for its strong aromatic properties, which manifest themselves even when you touch the plant.
- Eureka variegated – at the beginning of ripening, the fruits have a striped color, at the end the skin turns pink. The flesh is also pink.
- Arkobal – a hybrid of Meyer lemon and blood orange. At full maturity, the skin turns orange, with bright red stripes. The pulp is sweet and sour, with the taste and aroma of orange.
- Sanguineum – forms large fruits with reddish flesh. At the beginning of ripening, the peel is amber-green with stripes, later becoming a yellow-coral color.
- Buddha's hand – decorative inedible citrus with dry, bitterish pulp.The fruits resemble a hand and exude a delicate violet aroma.
- Limandarin – a mixture of lemon and tangerine. Covered with orange skin, it has a sour taste.
- Lemonage - a hybrid of orange and lemon, has an oval-elongated shape, orange peel and lemon sour taste.
Citrus fruits cross well with each other, the resulting fruits surprise with their appearance, unusual taste or strong aroma.
Which type of lemon is best to grow in an apartment?
There is an opinion that it is best to grow zoned varieties of lemons in tub culture. But enthusiasts who do not want to accept rules and boundaries manage to grow the most unusual species at home and expect fruit from them. The best indoor varieties of lemon are:
- Meyer (Chinese lemon, Chinese dwarf) - a low-growing variety of early and abundant fruiting. A natural hybrid of lemon and orange. Round, slightly acidic fruits of yellow or orange color appear in 2-3 years. Blooms at short intervals 4 times a year. The most popular among indoor types of lemon.
- Pavlovsky - a low plant that blooms all year round. The fruits are large, oval, thin-skinned, seedless. More than other varieties, they are adapted to indoor conditions - they easily tolerate lack of moisture and lack of sunlight. This is one of the best lemon varieties to grow at home.
- Panderosa (Canadian lemon) is a dwarf hybrid of lemon and grapefruit. Produces large fruits weighing up to 1 kg, up to 7 pieces on one plant. Grows well in conditions of lack of sunlight.
- Maykop – an unpretentious, high-yielding variety of lemons, bears fruit 3 years after planting. A low-growing tree with a lush crown of thin drooping branches.Among the popular homemade varieties of lemons, it looks the most decorative, the photo confirms this.
- Kursk - clone of the New Georgian variety. The low shrub is undemanding to growing conditions and has an average yield. Tolerates lack of moisture and poor lighting well.
- Irkutsk large-fruited - bred by amateur citrus grower V.I. Borischuk. It bears fruit the next year after planting; citrus fruits can reach a weight of 1.5 kg. The plant is low and does not require crown formation. It is still a newcomer among the varieties of lemons on the windowsill, but is gradually gaining popularity.
Indoor lemons should be installed in a sunny location. During hot periods, the plant should be shaded at midday to avoid sunburn. In winter, daylight hours must be extended to 10-12 hours with the help of artificial lighting. The room should be regularly ventilated, but drafts should not be allowed. On the Internet on gardening forums you can often find discussions of varieties of indoor lemons with photos and descriptions of the growing process. Other people's experience, mistakes, advice are good help for a beginning citrus grower.
How to determine the variety of lemon
Some varieties are easily recognized by the appearance of their lemon fruits; most cannot be identified at first glance. For clarity, you need to examine several fruits of the same plant, as well as the tree itself, for the presence of certain morphological characteristics. The size, color and thickness of the peel, the properties of the pulp, and the aroma of the fruit are taken into account. What matters is the height of the tree, the thickness of the shoots, the color of the bark, the shape of the leaves, the presence of spines, their number and size. Determining the variety of lemon by leaves is a technique inaccessible to the common man.You need to be a botanist or have been breeding crops professionally for a long time in order to thus identify the varietal identity of citrus.
Conclusion
The varieties of lemons amaze with their diversity - sour, sweet, unusual shapes and colors. Breeding citrus crops is a profitable and interesting activity. Starting as a small hobby, it can turn into a lifelong passion. Perhaps a description of the varieties of indoor lemons with photos and names will encourage someone to grow the crop.
The description of all varieties is very clear and accessible.