73

13: Spices

Citrus amblycarpa (Hassk.) Ochse

RUTACEAE

Citrus limonellus Hassk. var. amblycarpa Hassk., Citrus nobilis Lour. var. amblycarpa (Hassk.) Ochse & De Vries.

Indonesia: jeruk limau (Java), jeruk limo (Java), jeruk sambal (Java).

Exclusively known from cultivation in Java (Indonesia).

The juice of immature fruits is very fragrant and is used as a condiment to enhance the taste of several dishes (e.g. sambal, soto and bahmie). The leaves are also used as a condiment, e.g. to improve the taste of meat sauce as a substitute for the leaves of Citrus hystrix DC., but also to perfume washing water.

Shrub or low tree, up to 7 m tall, with almost spineless branches. Leaves alternate, unifoliolate; petiole 1 cm long; blade ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 4-8 cm x 2-4 cm, margin shallowly crenate, glabrous, densely pellucid dotted, fragrant when bruised. Flowers solitary in leaf axils or in a terminal 3-5-flowered raceme, white, 2 cm in diameter, fragrant; calyx 1 mm long, with 4-5 segments; petals 3-5, up to 1 cm long; stamens 16-20, forming a tube at base. Fruit a depressed globose berry, 1.5-3.5 cm in diameter, shiny dark green when immature, turning yellow-green at maturity, peel bullate, not very thin; pulp yellow-green, sour, fragrant. Seed long, pear-shaped, up to 1 cm x 0.5 cm. Citrus amblycarpa is cultivated in Java from sea-level up to 350 m altitude. Flowering is in March-April. The fruits are on sale in most markets.

[7] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963 1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
[40] Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies], 2nd edition. 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd edition, 1950. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage/ Bandung, the Netherlands/ Indonesia. 1660 pp.).
[66] Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of 'Indische groenten', 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 1016 pp.

P.C.M. Jansen

Jansen, P.C.M., 1999. Citrus amblycarpa (Hassk.) Ochse. In: de Guzman, C.C. and Siemonsma, J.S. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 13: Spices. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea