Lemon tree

Citrus limon, Common Lemon Tree

Should we say "limon" rather than "citron"? Poiteau is amused by this linguistic dispute: if we say "limonade" and "limonadier" (lemonade and lemonade maker), why not call the fruit it's made from "limon"? It seems that a certain Italian, who came to establish the first lemonade shop in Paris, imposed his word Limonea, while, out of national pride, the French kept the name "citron." Thus, "citronnier" and "limonier" are synonyms, but the latter, Poiteau slyly tells us, is better than the former.

The lemon tree clearly distinguishes itself from the orange tree by its habit: almost always thorny, it bears long, diverging, and sparsely branched shoots.

Its leaves, with wingless petioles, and its flowers, tinged red on the outside and exhaling a very discreet fragrance, make it a distinct species. Its stamens, numbering about twenty and grouped in bundles, classify the genus in Linnaeus's polyadelphia sexual system.

As for the fruit, everyone knows the lemon: its bright yellow color, its characteristic ovoid shape, and the pleasant acidity of its juice. The most esteemed lemons are those with the thinnest rind. Inside, the fruit is divided into eight to ten segments filled with juice-laden vesicles and seeds attached to the central angle of each segment.

Poiteau states that citrus seeds exhibit a rare anatomical complication, which he took care to detail in his plates.

This plate is taken from Poiteau and Turpin's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (Treatise on Fruit Trees), a botanical encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, a major reference for 19th-century naturalist illustration.
It combines the rigor of scientific drawing with a rare artistic sensibility, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.