Villa Hanbury tree
The photo of harvested fruits is reproduced with permission of Bruce Noble, see
Brisbane Area Rainforest Plants

page updated 27 March 2004
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A visitor to this page who lives in Queensland sent me some excellent pictures comparing juvenile and mature leaves on Round Lime trees growing on his property.
Click on photo for more pictures and higher definition.
Formerly Microcitrus australis, this is commonly known as the Australian Round Lime or sometimes by one of its Aboriginal names - Dooja.
It occurs as a shrub or tall narrow tree, with glossy, dark-green leaves, on the more open and drier rainforest margins of southeast
Queensland, from Brisbane northwards. The round fruits, about 2cms to 5cms in diameter have a thick, green to lemon-coloured skin and pale green pulp. It looks very similar to a small, bumpy lime.
NYBG fruit close-up
NYBG plant
NYBG label
Plant forming mature leaves
Mature and juvenile leaves of Round Lime. Click for higher definition image.
 
cut fruit
Ripe fruits
© B.Noble
I took these photos, with unripe fruit, at  Villa Hanbury
in Italy, where there is a very fine specimen of this species.
I propagated this plant, on Carrizo rootstock, from budwood of the tree at Villa Hanbury.
My seedlings of this variety are giving me problems. Each winter they suffer from severe die-back. Although new growth occurs in the spring, this is never very vigorous and the plants remain small.
The right photos show a successful budding of one seedling on to Morton citrange, and the same plant now two years older and just starting to develop the broader leaf shape.
There is also a good fruiting specimen in the Propagation Dept. of the New York Botanical Garden, N.Y., USA. This area is closed to the public, but if you ask nicely, a member of the staff would probably show you the plant.
The New York tree is about 11' tall in a 2' diameter pot. It appears to be a seedling (no graft visible) acquired in 1979. The July fruits are not yet ripe. Notice the diamond shaped leaves, less rounded than on the older Hanbury tree.
New growth of Microcitrus Australis budded on citrange.
Do you recognise anything on this plant label?
If you've studied this page carefully you should, because the picture is one of my photos from this page.  Reproduced, with my permission, by Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery, of Kyogle, NSW, Australia.
label
Clickon the label for a higher resolution version!