Australian Native Foods – Plant Profiles Citrus – Family Rutaceae
Common Names & Species:
• Desert Lime (Citrus glauca), Finger Lime (Citrus australasica) and Round Lime (Citrus australis)
• ‘Rainforest Pearl’ PBR Finger lime – a selection of Citrus australasica var. sanguinea
• ‘Australian Blood Lime’ PBR – (hybrid of Australian finger lime and Rangpur lime, Citrus australasica var. sanguinea X Citrus x limonia)
• ‘Australian Sunrise Lime’ PBR lime (hybrid) (Citrus australasica X [Fortunella sp. x Citrus reticulata ‘Calamondin’])
• ‘Australian Outback Lime’ PBR, selection of Citrus glauca.
Desert Lime
Finger Lime
Native To:
• Desert Lime – Queensland and New South Wales, west of a line running from Rockhampton to Dubbo, with some isolated occurrences in central South Australia
• Finger Lime – rainforests in southern Qld and northern NSW
• Round Lime – rainforest margins of southeast Qld, from Brisbane northwards
• ‘Australian Blood’ PBR lime is a hybrid produced by open pollination, from a cross between an Ellendale Mandarin (a mandarin and orange hybrid) and a seedling form of the Australian Finger lime (Citrus australasica var. sanguinea)
• ‘Australian Sunrise’ PBR lime is a hybrid from an open pollinated seedling selected from a Faustrimedin, which is a hybrid of the finger lime with the calamondin; itself a hybrid between the cumquat and a variety of the mandarin group (Citrus reticulata). Habit:
• Desert Lime: tree to 2 – 4 m, bearing small green to yellow coloured fruit
• Finger Lime: tree to 10 m, bearing oblong green to yellow fruit
• Round Lime: tree 3 – 10 m, with rough skinned, green to yellow fruit
• ‘Rainforest Pearl’ finger lime: open, upright small tree to 3 m, bearing yellow-green fruit with red pulp at maturity
• Blood Lime: tree to 2 – 2.5 m, with small, red-fleshed fruit
• Sunrise Lime: tree to 2 – 4 m, bearing small yellow pear shaped fruit
Tom Ling is looking for Australian native citrus, namely, Kakadu Lime, Maiden’s Australian Wild Lime, New Guinea Wild Lime, and other Sydney Hybrids. Contact the club.
Desert Lime will not survive in Brisbane due to too humid weather.