Citron - Origin and Distribution

Origin and Distribution

Despite the variation among the cultivars, authorities agree the citron is an old and original species. There is molecular evidence that all other cultivated citrus species arose by hybridization among four ancestral types, which are the citron, pomelo, mandarin and papeda.

The citron is believed to be the purest of them all, since it is usually fertilized by self-pollination, and is therefore generally considered to be a male parent of any citrus hybrid rather than a female one.

Today, authorities agree that all citrus species are native to Southeast Asia where they are found wild and in an uncultivated form. The story of how they spread to the Mediterranean has been reported by Francesco Calabrese, Henri Chapot, Samuel Tolkowsky, Elizabetta Nicolisi, and others.

The citron could also be native to India where it borders on Burma, and Pakistan where it is found in valleys at the foot of the Himalayas, and in the Indian Western Ghats. It is thought that by the time of Theophrastus, the citron was mostly cultivated in the Persian Gulf on its way to the Mediterranean basin, where it was cultivated during the later centuries in different areas as described by Erich Isaac. Many mention the role of Alexander the Great and his armies as they attacked Persia and what is today Pakistan, as being responsible for the spread of the citron westward, reaching the European countries such as Macedonia and Italy.

The citron is mentioned in the Torah as being required for ritual use during the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40). According to this tradition it is considered that the Jews brought it in The Exodus from Egypt, where the Egyptologist and archaeologist Victor Loret who lived in the XIXth century claimed to have identified it depicted on the walls of the botanical garden at the Karnak Temple, which dates back to the time of Thutmosis III, yet modern research contradicts this.