Types of Lemon Trees
There are several types of lemon trees that can be spotted. These trees are thorny and evergreen with light green oval-shaped leaves that grow 6 meters high and bear purple flowers. Lemon trees start to bear fruits when they are in their third year. Many of them are even known to produce up to 1,500 lemons each year. The largest lemon producers of the world are Argentina, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Greece, and the USA.
Types of lemon trees: The most common types of lemon trees are Meyers and Rough Lemon; however, there are also a few others of significance, which are explained below.
- True Lemons: This variety of lemons was first grown in India. Afterward it spread to the Mediterranean and from there it was taken to the Americas by Christopher Columbus.
- Eureka: The two basic types of lemons today are Eureka, which first grew in California, and Lisbon, which actually originated in Australia. The former is a large and wide-growing tree with very few twigs and branches. It produces lemon clusters during the spring and summer months.
- Lisbon: This Australian-born lemon is known for its thick trees and various vertical and thorny branches. This lemon variety bears fruits in the summer and autumn season. Of its two varieties, the fruit of Lisbon lemon trees contains more seeds than its Californian counterpart.
- Avon and Bearss: These trees are also of Californian origin. Of them, Avon was propagated originally in 1934 and was planted in Avon Park’s Alpine Grove. Here, it produced many lemons that are well suited for frozen concentrate. Bearss is said to be close to the Lisbon type while Harvey is similar to Eureka.
- Meyer: This lemon variety was first introduced in 1908 in China. Not a typical lemon, the fruit of this tree is used as lemon substitutes, though it is less acidic than the usual lemons. Lemons of this variety are close to typical oranges in shape, size, color of peel and pulp. Meyer trees spread wide but are small and hardly have any thorns. This variety is quite sweet in taste, less tart, and is very popular in south Texas, for which reason it is known as Valley Lemon.
- Villafranca: This lemon tree type has its roots in Sicily. From here, it was taken to Europe in 1875 and from there it was further introduced to Sanford, Florida. It is close to the Eureka lemon type. The Villafranca tree is large, with thick foliage and thornier than Eureka but as it grows older, it loses its thorns. One of its two strains bears fruit perennially while the other bears fruit in summer. It is now commercially grown in Israel, but is not as popular in India.
- Rough Lemon: Very much like True Lemons, the fruit of Rough Lemons is larger, bumpier, and seedier than the former.
- Dorshapo: This is a typical lemon tree grown in Brazil, which is very much like Eureka in its tree traits and fruit. The fruit of this tree contains very little acid content. It is also grown in Latin America and the Mediterranean.
is the variegated pink lemon tree is the fruit tart or sweet?
I was wondering about this myself, so I did a search on it after seeing your comment. After searching through several other sites that didn’t provide any clues as to the variegated pink lemon’s sweetness or tartness, I found this description at DwarfCitrus.net:
I would interpret “acidic lemon flavor” to mean that the fruit is probably a little on the tart side. Of course, when we’re talking about lemons, these things are relative — to my tastes, ALL lemons are basically tart compared with just about any other food or drink! If you want something sweeter than the natural taste of the fruit, you can always add some sugar to it after harvesting, or use the juice to make lemonade (or pink lemonade in the case of this pink variegated variety).
What type is used for lemonaid at the state fairs?
hi,
just wondering exactly how many types of lemons there are!????
Please help me – its for school!
Thanks
J
@Jane:
This is a difficult one to answer because horticulturalists (the people who work with plants and agricultural crops) are always experimenting with new varieties and cultivars of lemons, thus increasing the possible number of types.
There are also difficulties in determining exactly what counts as a “lemon type”. For example, Meyer lemons are thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange, but can we count this a lemon type even though it is not a ‘true’ lemon? If we do count it, then we need to look at all of the other hybrid varieties and count those too, but it is hard to pin down an exact number on this because there are always new developments. On the other hand, if we don’t count hybrids and only consider true lemons, we will need to trace their lineage and be sure that they are really true lemons and have not been crossed with something else at some point in their history.
For something like a school assignment, I would probably give an answer of “10 to 20, depending on exact classification”. If forced to give an exact number, I would just say 10 (this is the number of varieties listed at Wikipedia). Most sites list five to ten major types. I have not yet been able to find an authoritative source that provides an exact number.
@Robin:
I did some research on this one but have not yet encountered any “official” lemon type that is uniformly used for lemonade at all state fairs. I suspect that each state fair uses whatever lemons are available to them for a relatively low cost.
I was wondering, what breed is the tree that people refer to as a lemonade tree, someone gave me a lemon to eat the other day and it was sweet, almost like a mix between a lemon and lime and orange without the tartness. My sister used to make old fashion lemonade out of them when I was young. I want to know so I can grow one, their delicious!
I’m looking for a “Sun Gold” lemon tree and I’m having a hard time finding it. I currently have one in my backyard that my mom gave me as a gift, however I’m moving and I would like to plant a lemon tree at my new house and I love the flavor of my lemons. I live in Southern California (Los Angeles area). Any suggestions?