Citrus glauca

Lore & Background

The desert lime is a shrub or small tree that can reach 12 metres. It is cold, heat, drought, and salinity tolerant, and considered evergreen, but will shed its leaves during drought and survive by the green bark on its branches. Thorns appear on low-growing branches to prevent grazing by rabbits, kangaroos, and cattle, but cease above grazing level. The fruit is globular, about half an inch in diameter, with an intense piquant flavour, and years of good rainfall produce an abundance of fruit.

Reader's Guide

Citrus glauca holds significance as one of the most resilient Citrus species, with tolerance to heat, drought, cold, and salinity. This makes it potentially valuable for Citrus breeding programs, as it readily hybridises with many common Citrus species. The fruit is a highly prized bushfood, traditionally wild-harvested, though commercial cultivation is beginning to reduce reliance on wild product. The Australian Outback lime, a cultivar selected by CSIRO scientists, is characterised by upright habit, large fruit, high yield, uniform ripening, lack of thorns, and suitability for mechanical harvesting. Hybrids include the eremolemon (with Citrus meyeri), eremoranges, eremoradias, and citrangeremos. The species has been extensively cleared in some areas due to conversion of bush into agricultural fields.

Did You Know?

• The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records the common names native kumquat and desert lime for Citrus glauca.
• Under the Swingle system, the desert lime was classified in the genus Eremocitrus, but more recent taxonomy places it in Citrus.
• The Australian Outback lime cultivar was selected by CSIRO scientists and cultivated at Merbein, Victoria by Steve Sykes.
• The eremolemon is generally considered a natural true-breeding hybrid between Citrus glauca and Citrus limon (or a lemon cultivar).