RE: NANFA-- Streamside citrus [offtopic]

Edward Venn (e_venn_at_hotmail.com)
Tue, 20 Nov 2001 05:57:03 +0000

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Wow, you found some "ponkan" trees. The fruit is not really edible due to
the bitter taste but it is high in citric acid and in oils commonly used in
cleaning sprays etc.

Ed
Tokyo Japan

>From: "Hoover, Jan J ERDC-EL-MS" <HOOVERJ_at_wes.army.mil>
>Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
>To: "'nanfa_at_aquaria.net'" <nanfa at aquaria.net>
>Subject: RE: NANFA-- Streamside citrus [offtopic]
>Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 09:13:20 -0600
>
>Last week a group of us were collecting in the Ouachita River (near Hot
>Springs, Arkansas) where we saw a profusion of spiney, shrubby trees
>bearing large numbers of a golfball-size, lemon-like fruit. None of us had
>seen this tree before but it looked a lot like some citrus trees do when
>grown from seed. Three of us sampled the fruit (and yes, we should have
>known better). It tasted like lemon, but with a bitter aftertaste. A
>botanist later identified it as a species of Chinese citrus called "hardy
>orange." Hardy orange (Poncirus trifoliata)is used as stock for grafting
>commercial varieties of oranges and lemons and as ornamental plants (one
>variety with twisted stems is called "the flying dragon"). It is also
>used
>to form impenetrable hedges. The fruit is mildly poisonous (some references
>indicate that the seeds and roots are poisonous). The hardy orange is
>apparently widely distributed throughout the southeast but this was the
>first time any of us recalled seeing it. It may not grow commonly in
>riparian zones, but we saw it growing along the river banks a few meters
>from the water (and in some cases at water's edge).
>
>Distribution in US shown here:
>http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cgi
>
>Photographs and biology here:
>http://www.saalfelds.freeserve.co.uk/poncirus_nn4.htm
>
>Toxicity described here:
>http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Poncitr.htm
>
>
>
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