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Description: The “true” lemon tree (Citrus limon) is a relatively small woody species reaching heights of about 3-6 m (10 to 20 ft), normally has sharp thorns on the twigs. The leaves are arranged alternately, and are oblong, elliptic or long-ovate in shape, ranging from about 6.25-11.25 cm (2.5-4.5 in) in length with fine toothed margins and slender wings on the petioles; although the leaves are reddish when immature, as they age they turn dark-green on the upper side and light-green below. The flowers are fragrant and may be borne as solitary, two or more clustered in the leaf axils. C. limon flowers have four or five petals, each about 2 cm (3/4 in) long, white on the upper surface (inside), purplish beneath (outside) with 20-40 stamens with yellow anthers that are more or less united. The true lemon fruit is about 7-12 cm (2.75-4.75 in) long, more or less oval in shape with a nipple-like bulge at its apex; the peel or skin is usually light-yellow with aromatic with oil glands; and the juicy, acid fruit pulp is pale-yellow with eight to ten segments. Some fruits are seedless, most have a few elliptic or ovate, pointed, smooth, seeds (e.g., see Morton 1987). Lemon fruits usually have either a smooth or rough green to yellowish skin; the smoother skin type is generally juicier, while the rough or bush type typically has more flavor (Matanane et al. 2014:114).
Distribution: Although the native geographical range of the Citrus limon is uncertain, the true lemon “may have come from southeastern Asia” (Smith 1985). Today it is now grown commercially worldwide in tropical, semi-tropical, and warm temperate countries, including the Mediterranean region. Its range of cultivation in Micronesia and greater tropical Pacific region is relatively limited, however, “the lemon tree has the reputation of tolerating very infertile, very poor soil” (Morton 1987:160-168).
General Uses: Roots, bark, fruits and seeds of lemon trees (Citrus limon) have been used traditionally for a variety of reasons especially for medicinal purposes and refreshing beverages over an extensive global range, including within some islands in Micronesia. Safford (1905:229) provided a summary of the uses of this common lemon fruit:
“This fruit is valuable for its acid juice and for the oil obtained from its rind, known as the "essence of lemon." The latter may be obtained by scraping and pressing or by distillation. The former, together with lime juice, is the source of citric acid. Lemon oil is of a pale yellow color, fragrant, and aromatic. It is used for flavoring and in the manufacture of perfumery, especially of eau de Cologne.”
Uses in Palau: Okabe (see Defillips et al. 1988) provided the following series of medicinal uses of bark, leaves and fruits of the lemon tree: “For stomach ache, four to six young leaves are crushed, and the juice is drunk. When pain is acute the bark of the same tree is also added. For amoebic dysentry, young leaves and bark are mixed with young leaves and bark of Glochidion ramiflorum and young leaves and bark of Terminalia catappa, and juice pressed out is drunk. Juice from the roasted fruit is applied to a fish ‘sting’. For fainting, a handful of young leaves are mixed together with a handful each of young leaves of Citrus sp. and Clerodendrum [sp.], crushed, rolled into a round pellet and put into the mouth. The patient will vomit bad blood and recover. For seasickness, the fruit is eaten.”
Uses in Ulithi Atoll: The true lemon tree, C. limon is reportedly known on Ulithi as Khurukhur lemol; Lessa (1977:160) noted that the word “khurukhur” and its cognates is normally used “without qualifying terms” in several of the Caroline Islands where it can also refer “to the orange, as well as any citrus, including the lime, tangerine, and pumelo.” Lessa (1977:160) reported that on Ulithi the fruit of C. limon is sometime eaten, its wood is used to make “dance sticks and adze handles,” and the “leaves are used as a spice and to make leis and medicine” [Lessa referred to this species as “Citrus limonia Osbeck,” a synonym for C. limon, the classification used here).
Uses in Guam: Safford (1905:226) referred to the lemons grown on Guam/ He noted that the lemons were oval shaped, terminating in a nipple at the apex of the fruit and were called “limon real” by the natives of Guam. Safford (1905:229) also described the availability, quality and uses of lemon fruits on Guam more than a hundred years ago when he studied the ethnobotany of that Mariana Island:
“In Guam lemons are abundant and of excellent quality. They grow almost spontaneously, sending up shoots from the roots, and forming excellent, dense hedges. If left to themselves they grow into impenetrable thickets. They flower and bear continuously throughout the year, great quantities of them falling to the ground and going to waste. They are not used much by the natives except for lemonade and for seasoning meats. The fresh peel, like that of limes, is squeezed into " cocktails" for the sake of the aromatic flavor of the oil. Like the citron the rind is sometimes scraped and the fruit preserved in syrup.”
Moore and McMakin (1979:172) provided more information about the use of this lemon species in Guam in more modern times:
“The perfumed juice of this many-seeded citrus fruit is used for cooking and most popularly in finadene sauce when it is mixed with onion, salt and hot pepper. The Guamanians dip almost any type of cooked meat or vegetable into this sauce. The juice is also used for making kelequen – the juice is added to raw deer, fish, shrimp or undercooked chicken for a popular Guamanian food. Many times, the yellow skin of the fruit is cut away while squeezing the juice so that the high acid content of the rind will not make the juice bitter. The juice of this lemon was once used extensively by women to shampoo their hair.”
Uses on Ifaluk Atoll: True lemon (Citrus limon) has been reported as an introduced species on this atoll (e.g., see Fosberg et al. 1979:123). Lessa (1977:160) noted that on
lfaluk the juice of lemons “is used with pork or fish” and the wood of the small tree was used to make “adze handles.”
Uses in Pohnpei: The first juices extracted from fruits of introduced, cultivated true lemon (Citrus limon, see Herrera et al. 2010), which is known by some as Laman on Pohnpei, have been used “as a meat tenderizer or marinade” as well as a taste enhancer on “raw fish, sashimi, or other meat,” and parts of lemons are used in the treatment of “unspecified children’s illness” as well as to “treat colds and fevers…” (Balick et al. 2009:491; also see Lessa 1977:160). In 2005, Mesio Sardis reported that the leaves of “Pohnpei laman [lemon]” are used for coughing and the boiled bark tea of the lemon tree “is used to treat soumahu en lusulus (high fever with chills),”
Uses in Kosrae: True lemon (Citrus limon) is an introduced crop in Kosrae where it is
now cultivated (e.g., see Fosberg et al. 1979:123; Lorence and Flynn. 2010).
Uses in Kiribati: True lemon (Citrus limon) are irregularly cultivated around the homes on the atolls of Kiribati, “but they are introduced and rare” in Kiribati (Thaman 1990).