On 2009-09-14 20:05:23 +0100, Martin Brown
said:

I have a small lemon tree rescued from a garden centre discount bin -
and I have just tried the first "lemon" from it in a G&T. I confess I
was disappointed - I was hoping for a fresh aromatic home grown lemon.

It took a couple of years to recover from its ill treatment to flower
and fruit. Like most of the UK garden centre lemon trees the "lemons"
are round, orange when ripe and with orange acidic flesh. The leaves
are larger than the mini-orange plant.

I know citrus fruit are remarkably promiscuous but does anyone know
what the plant being sold in UK garden centres as a lemon tree is? I
have seen the same thing sold as a lemon tree in plenty of places so it
isn't a mislabelling problem.

In particular is the fruit OK to eat. It tastes unlike any of the
citrus fruit I am familiar with. Nothing like a lime or lemon. Closest
to a grapefruit, or bitter orange but with other fruit acids dominant
(not tartaric and not citric) and a distinct citrus odour from the peel
that is almost like a lemon but not quite. Any ideas what it is?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

Regards,
Martin Brown

I can only guess but the most common is probably Meyer's Lemon. The
flesh is orange and while it is lemon-y, it's not quite as tart as you
would expect. However, they're not orange when ripe as to the skin.
Are you quite sure it's a lemon?


--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon