Citrus ichangensis
Ichang Papeda fruit and leaf
The Ichang lemon or Ichang - Papeda (Citrus ichangensis ) is a species of the rue family ( Rutaceae ). It belongs to the subgenus Papedocitrus with greatly enlarged petioles. It is used in China as a weak -growing rootstock for oranges.
Origin
As a wild species in western central and southwestern China at altitudes of up to 2400 m occurring, the Ichang Lemon is the hardiest evergreen Zitrusart. It is named after the city of Yichang ( Wade- Giles: I- ch'ang ) in the Chinese province of Hubei.
Description
The evergreen shrubs, which can be over 100 years old, reach stature heights of up to 3.5 meters. A striking feature of this type are the extended, mimicking a leaf petioles, which have the same size as the actual sheet. Leaf and stem mirror the same size; together they are about 7 to 11 cm long and 2 to 2.5 cm wide. The blade end is greatly exaggerated.
The slightly fragrant, large, thick waxy flowers have grown together into a tube and stamens hanging bell-shaped downward. They appear individually or maximum threes in the leaf axils of the previous year's shoots and can already be seen in the fall as a small bud.
The fruits are like small lemons or mandarins; there are elongated and wide - flat fruit shapes. The colors are yellow (with oblong shape ) to yellow-orange or orange ( in Mandarin form). The shell is often easy riffelig. The fruit is depending on the type sapless only with white pulp, or with juicy sour - bitterish taste.
The seeds are sorted by type, up to 60 pieces per fruit; they are very large, monoembryonisch and zygotically. With good pollination the seeds fill the fruit from fully and displace the juice sacs nearly completely. The seeds of all seven known, occurring wild types are monoembryonisch, so have only one embryo ( germ ) per seed. The seven wild forms differ mainly in fruit shape, color and size.
The Ichang lemon makes it very easy to hybrids and is thus well suited for breeding. It is the hardiest evergreen species of the genus citrus plants (Citrus ) and can withstand temperatures down to -15 ° C.
There are two millennia- old hybrids of different hybrids: C. ichangensis × C.reticulata var austera? , Also called C. junos, yuzu, ( hybrids of ichangensis with mandarin oranges are called Ichandarin ) and C. ichangensis × C.maxima var? Hu, also C. wilsonii Tan. , English called " Ichang Lemon". Both have good usable fruit and Yuzu has recently been used by the fine cuisine more often.
In modern times some hybrids have been bred new, such as a Ichangquat (C. × Fortunella margarita ichangensis ); all hybrids are characterized by pronounced frost hardiness.
Use
In China, the Ichang Papeda is used as a weak -growing, compatible rootstock for oranges.
Documents
- Walter T. Swingle, Philip C. Reece (1967 ): The Botany of Citrus and Its Wild Relatives. In: W. Reuther, HJ Webber, LD Batchelor (eds.): The Citrus Industry. Vol 1, University of California. (online)
- Bernhard Voss (1997): Citrus plants from tropical to Hardy. Humbach & Nemazal, ISBN 3-9805521-3-6
- Bernhard Voss (2005): Citrus plants. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH, ISBN 3-440-10174-6