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P L A T E DCVIII.
C I T R U S NOBILI S.
Mandarin Orange.
C L A S S XVIIL ORDER IIL
FOLYADELPHIA ICOSANDRIA. Many Sets of Chives. Threads from
the Calyx or Receptacle.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX 5-dendatus. Corolla S-petala. Stamina
2 0 in cylindrum passim connata. Stylus
I . Bacca 9—12-locularis, pulpà vesicular!.
CUP five-toothed. Petals five. Stamens about
twenty, generally united at the base.
Shaft 1. Fruit g- to 12-celled, the pulp
variously divided.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
CITRUS petiolis sublinearibus, fructu latescente
depresso.
CITRUS with nearly linear leafstalks; the fruit
broad depressed.
CITRUS nobilis, inermis, ramis adscendentibus : petiolis strictis, fructu tuberculoso subcompresso.—
Lour. Flor. Cochinchin. 2. p. 569 ?
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2. Chives and pointai.
3. The chives spread open, a tip magnified.
4. Seed-bud and pointai.
5. A horizontal section of the fruit.
THE drawing of this remarkable Orange, which has so long been a desideratum in this country, was
taken at Worraley-bury in the beginning of last May. The plant is a native of China, and Mr. Barrow
informs us, that he found the fruit very common when on his travels in that country, and in
much higher estimation than the common Orange by the Chinese, who call it Mandarin Orange (answering
nearly to the English epithet of noble) by way of pre-eminence. The same gentleman also
informs us, that he found some fine trees of it in the gardens at the Cape of Good Hope it is theiefore
the more singular that it has been so long in reaching this country. From Loureiro's description
of his Citrus nobilis, there can,be little doubt of its being intended for the Mandarin Orange; which,
he informs us, grows to a moderately sized tree, and particularly notices the superior excellence and
the depression of the fruit, whose common size is about five inches across. The plant at Sir Abraham
Hume's is as yet only about five feet in height, and was imported from Canton in 1805.
It is easily distinguished from the common Orange, both by its curious form and internal structure,
the pulp adhering so loosely to the rind as to be separable from it by the slightest eiFort, and leaving in
many places a considerable opening between them.
!