What type of citrus is this?

Question

There is a tree growing in my yard which yields some type of citrus fruit and I'm not exactly sure which type it is. The tree itself is about 6ft tall and has green thorns which are between 1.5" to over 3" long. The leaves are small and there seems to be as many thorns as leaves. It currently has yellow fruit on it which is yellow and appears very similar to a lemon, however, the fruit is perfectly round though sometimes a bit ruddy, and they never get larger than a golf ball. There is no lemon "nipple" to speak of and there is light fuzz covering the rind which doesn't appear to be mold or fungus and is similar to peach fuzz. When cut open the fruit is distinctly citrus and gives off a smell which is similar to a lemon but has a bitter "don't eat me" scent to it. Instead of falling off the tree and decaying, these things turn brown and rough on the tree and fall off as dry, hard pod like things.

I'm stumped, any ideas on what it might be?

Answer 1

From your description I am fairly sure you have a Poncirus trifoliata plant, also known as Japanese Bitter Orange. The fuzz on the fruit is the big clue, plus the very spiny stem and the bitter "don't eat me" scent you describe. Poncirus is a common stock for grafting lemons (called the "trifoliata" stock) and if the lemon dies the rootstock can grow and produce the spiny kind of plant you describe. If you plant was a rootstock that grew, you should be able to see the spot (near the base) where the grafted plant died.

Answer 2

What you have is a Key Lime Tree-that is what Key Lime Pies are made with. I also make Limeade with it-the kids love it. I freeze the juice in ice cube trays and then bag them so I can make Key Lime Pie's and Bars all year around. I don't know where you live but I live in Florida and have 3 in my yard. Hope this helps

Answer 3

I thought only lemon trees had thorns, but from the description, it sounds like limes.

Answer 4

Its might be a kumquat tree. I used to have one in my back yard.
There is a picture here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumquat