Citrus limetta Risso, Rutaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: sweet lemon, sweet lime

French: limette d'Italie, limettier doux

Spanish: lima, lima dulce, limero dulce, limón dulce, limonero dulce

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Small tree to 8 m high; branches irregular, conspicuously glandular-punctate, thorns stiff and numerous, becoming 1.5-7.5 cm long; bark brownish gray, relatively smooth; petioles narrowly but distinctly winged, spatulate, 8-29 mm long, wing 2-8 mm wide; leaflets obovate or ovate to elliptic, crenulate, 5.5-17 cm long, 2.8-8 cm wide, apex more or less obtusely acuminate, base rounded; flowers white in bud; calyx with 5 triangular, acuminate lobes about 4 mm long; petals white, oblong-lanceolate, 16-17 mm long, 6-7 mm wide; stamens 20-25; filaments about 10 mm long, connate in variable groups; anthers sub-basifixed; disk prominent, annular; ovary globose, apex depressed, glandular-punctate, 3 mm in diameter; style stout, 7-8 mm long, sharply distinct from ovary, soon deciduous; stigma globose, depressed apically; hesperidium globose, about 5 cm in diameter, skin light yellow at maturity, rind white, about 5 mm thick, pulp abundant, greenish, juice abundant, insipid, not acid"  (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; pp. 742-744).

Habitat/ecology:  Moist uplands in the Galápagos Islands (McMullen, 1999; p. 57).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Originally probably from India and Asia" (McMullen, 1999; p. 57).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Floreana Group	Floreana Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Sierra Negra, Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) San Cristóbal Group	San Cristóbal Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)

Comments:  An escape from cultivation in the Galápagos Islands (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; pp. 742-744).

Additional information:
Additional online information about Citrus limetta is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Citrus limetta as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Citrus limetta may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

McMullen, C. K. 1999. Flowering plants of the Galápagos. Comstock Pub. Assoc., Ithaca, N.Y. 370 p.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.