Citrus reticulata Blanco

Tree

Flowering: March-May. Fruiting: November-February

Flowering: April-May. Fruiting: October-December.

A small tree that reaches a height of 5 - 7 m with slender branches and lance shaped shiny evergreen leaves. The leaves are not trifoliate but the petioles (leaf stems) are slightly winged. The flowers are white and highly fragrant. The orange colour round fruit is juicy and sweet with loose skin which is very easy to peel. They are about 5 - 10 cm in diameter and have easily divided sections. They are similar to oranges but usually smaller and looser skinned

Small trees; branches slender, erect or spreading, spinous. Leaves unifoliolately compound, alternate, spiral; rachis ca. 2 mm broad, short, slightly marginate, articulate above; lamina ca. 5-10 x 2.5-3.5 cm, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, acute or rounded at base, tapering at apex, irregularly crenate or crenulate along margins. Inflorescences solitary to 3 in a fascicle; calyx irregularly 3-5-lobed; sepals 5, light greenish, glabrous; petals 5, white, oblong, glandular; stamens 14-19; filaments white, polyadelphous, usually 2 or 3, free, white; anthers yellow; disk annular, fleshy; ovary globose or oblate; style cylindric, greenish-white; stigma capitate. Fruit pale yellow, orange, red, or carmine, oblate to subglobose, smooth or coarse; pericarp very thin to thick, easily removed; sarcocarp with 7-14 segments or rarely more, sweet to acidic and sometimes bitter, with few to many seeds or rarely seedless; pulp vesicles plump, short, rarely slender and long. Seeds 10-15 per fruit, ovoid, base rounded, apex narrow and acute; embryos numerous, rarely solitary; cotyledons dark green, pale green, or milky white; chalaza purple.

Notes: Western Ghats & Eastern Ghats, Dry Deciduous to Moist Deciduous Forests, Cultivated, Native of South East Asiatic Region

Hillside forests, cultivated

Cultivated in subtropical areas.

The ripe fruit is eaten fresh. Squash, Jams and Jellies are also prepared from the pulp. The dried peel or rind is also use as flavoring agent. Local people burned the dried peel to repel insects

Nutritional Value

Energy 47 kcal; carbohydrate 11.75 gm; protein 0.94gm; total fat 0.12gm; dietry fibres 2.4 gm; niacin 0.28mg; thiamine 0.01 mg; vitamin C 53.2 mg; vitamin E 0.18 mg; potassium 169 mg; calcium 40 mg; iron 0.1mg; magnesium 10 mg; zinc 0.08mg & small amount of alpha & beta-carotene, per 100 gm

Raw fruits cooked in puddings, cakes, confectionery etc. It is sweet and delicious. A thin-skinned fruit with a very pleasant, acidic-sweet flavour. The fruit is up to 8cm in diameter. The dried rind of the fruit has a sweet spicy flavour and is often used as flavouring in cakes etc. The rind is a source of pectin.

Considered to have analgesic, anti asthmatic, anti cholesterolemic, anti inflammatory, antiseptic and laxative properties and are widely used in the field of medicine

The fruit is antiemetic, aphrodisiac, astringent, laxative and tonic. The flowers are stimulant. The pericarp is analgesic, antiasthmatic, anticholesterolemic, anti-inflammatory, antiscorbutic, antiseptic, antitussive, carminative, expectorant, stomachic. It is used in the treatment of dyspepsia, gastro-intestinal distension, cough with profuse phlegm, hiccup and vomiting. The endocarp is carminative and expectorant. It is used in the treatment of dyspepsia, gastro-intestinal distension, coughs and profuse phlegm. The unripened green exocarp is carminative and stomachic. It is used in the treatment of pain in the chest and hypochondrium, gastro-intestinal distension, swelling of the liver and spleen and cirrhosis of the liver. The seed is analgesic and carminative. It is used in the treatment of hernia, lumbago, mastitis and pain or swellings of the testes.