CSIRO ScienceImage 3400 The Australian Outback Lime

Australian limes are species of the plant genus ''

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

'' that are native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. These species were formerly included in the genera ''Microcitrus'' and ''Eremocitrus''. They have been used as a food source by

indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

and Indigenous New Guineans as well as early settlers and are used in modern Australian cuisine, including

marmalade Marmalade (from the Portuguese ''marmelada'') is a fruit preserves, fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It also has been made from lemons ...

and sauces. Species include:

Species from Australia

Natural species

*'' Citrus australasica'' (Finger lime), a species from rainforest regions of northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland with elongated yellow-green to purple fruits. Citrus australasica green fruit1

*'' Citrus australis'' (Round lime or Dooja), a species from south-eastern Australia with round, green fruits *'' Citrus glauca'' (Desert lime), from arid areas of inland Australia. Small round fruits are produced in summer. Citrus glauca fruit

* '' Citrus garrawayi'', (Mount White lime) is rare and endemic to the Cook District of

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

. * '' Citrus gracilis'' (Kakadu lime or Humpty Doo lime) grows in eucalypt woodland in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and was first described in the scientific literature in 1998. * '' Citrus inodora'' (Russell River lime or large-leaf Australian wild lime) is rare, and endemic to northern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. * '' Citrus maideniana'' (Maiden's Australian wild lime) may be a subspecies of ''C. inodora''.

Cultivars

CSIRO ScienceImage 3592 New lime varieties bred from native Australian limes

A number of

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s have been developed in recent years. These can be grafted on to standard citrus rootstocks. They may be grown as ornamental trees in the garden or in containers. Grafted standards are available for some varieties. The cultivars include: *'Australian Outback' (or 'Australian Desert'), developed from several desert lime varieties *'Australian Red Centre' (or 'Australian Blood' or Blood Lime), a cross of finger lime and a mandarin-lemon or mandarin-sweet orange hybrid *'Australian Sunrise', a hybrid cross of finger lime and a calomondin which is pear shaped and orange inside * 'Rainforest Pearl', a pink-fruited form of finger lime from Bangalow, New South Wales * 'Sunrise Lime ', parentage unknown * 'Outback Lime', a desert lime cultivar

Species from Papua New Guinea

* '' Citrus warburgiana'' (Kakamadu or New Guinea wild lime) grows on the south coast of the

Papuan Peninsula The Papuan Peninsula, also known as the Bird's Tail Peninsula, is a large peninsula in Papua New Guinea, southeast of the city of Lae, that makes up the southeastern portion of the island of New Guinea. The peninsula is the easternmost extent of ...

near Alotau(pictures)
*'' Citrus wakonai'' (also locally called kakamadu) has been reported from Goodenough Island. * '' Citrus wintersii'', also known as ''Citrus papuana'' (Brown River finger lime) has, as the name suggests, a small, thin fruit, pointed at both ends
pictures
. It grows near

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

. * '' Clymenia sp.'' are native to the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...

but are cultivated in other areas. ''Clymenia'' is now often considered to belong within the citrus genus. **'' Clymenia platypoda'' **'' Clymenia polyandra'' has a lemon-sized round fruit, pointed at one en
(pictures)
Citrus species in

have not been extensively studied, so the true number of species is unknown.

Identification

A
identification key
(p. 6 or 338) exists for the known Australian limes (not including species from

). The leaves of some species broaden dramatically with age.

References

{{citrus Bushfood Limes (fruit) Flora of Papua New Guinea Sapindales of Australia Citrus