Citrus limonlemon. A hybrid between bitter orange and citron, lemons were first grown in Southern China, Northern Burma, and Assam before the Common Era. They reached Southern Italy during the first century CE and were widespread throughout the Mediterranean basin by 1100 CE. Columbus introduced them to the New World in 1493. An important commercial crop elsewhere in California, lemons are grown in the San Francisco Bay Area as specimen garden trees. The ones photographed have yet to ripen. Photographed in a private garden in Berkeley, CA.
Citrus sinensisSweet Orange. All cultivated Citrus are considered hybrids of a primeval species. Oranges spread from their origin someplace in China and seemed to have reached Europe via Portuguese merchants shortly after 1500. Oranges were a major crop in the Santa Clara Valley at the Southern end of San Francisco Bay until the 1960s. They are still grown as specimen trees through the Bay Area. Photographed in a private garden in Berkeley, CA.