Citrus aurantium L.

മധുരനാരകം

Family : RUTACEAE

Synonym : Citrus madraspatana Hort. ex Tanaka

Common Names : Karna, Madhuranaragam, Bigarade, Sour orange, Seville orange

Flowering Period : October-December

Distribution : Native of China and Indonesia, cultivated in India

Habitat : Cultivated

Uses : Fruit edible - raw or cooked. Very acid and slightly bitter. It is widely used in making marmalade and other preserves. he rind of the fruit is often used as a flavouring in cakes etc. An oil obtained from the seeds contains linolenic acid and is becoming more widely used as a food because of its ability to reduce levels of cholesterol in the blood. The flowers are used for scenting tea. An essential oil derived from the dried peel of immature fruits, and known as bitter orange oil, is used as a food flavouring for baked goods, chewing gum, ice cream, soft drinks and liqueurs. They are rich in vitamin C, flavonoids, acids and volatile oils. . Both the leaves and the flowers are antispasmodic, digestive and sedative. The fruit is antiemetic, antitussive, carminative, diaphoretic, digestive and expectorant.

Key Characters :

Small trees, rarely shrus; young shoots glabrous. Leaves alternate, 1-foliolate; leaflets elliptic or ovate, cuneate or rounded at base, undulate or slightly crenulate at margin, tapering and emarginate at apex; petioles ca 2 cm long, often broadly winged; wings spatulate to oblong-obovate, ca 15 mm broad. Inflorescences axillary, few flowered. Flowers bisexual, white. Sepals 4 or 5, deltoid, acute, ciliate at margin. Petals oblong, attenuate above, coriaceous, glandular. Stamens 22-27; filaments white, poly- or 1 or 2-adelphous, sometimes free; anthers oblong, 2.5-3 mm long, yellow. Ovary barrel shaped; style cylindric, white; stigma capitate. Fruits subglobose or oblate, pitted, orange to red; seeds numerous, ovoid and smooth.