Londres

[citrange]

I have been sent photos of a mature citrus tree growing outside in central London.
Described as a 'Bengal Lime', but I have never seen anything like this.
Yellow fruit - size is 15cms across, and seems to have a black navel.




Can anyone try to identify this?
I can see at least a couple of leaves with a large petiole - not sure if they all have this shape.
Mike

[Sylvain]

- First, you go and get bud-wood.
- Then we think over.

[foufouche]

Unliky discovery!

Ce qui m'étonne c'est la dracaena en arrière plan qui a une belle taille (et accessoirement le phoenix mais lui doit être en pot) c'est assez fragile quand même surtout en conditions humides, il doit y avoir un bon micro climat urbain.

[citrange]

Peut-être pas un dracaena mais cordyline qui est plus robuste.

I have asked for the precise location of the citrus, so I can take better photos and perhaps some budwood.
If I do not get a reply, I will have to search every street in London!

[neo66]

It's large London !

[ilya11]

I do not know what it is, but looks like Sathkora (Hatkora), Melanesian papeda, used as pickles in Bengali kitchen and is also called Bengal Lime
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99688146@N03/16680182756

[Sylvain]

If it is it (Shatkora spelling is more used), it is a kind of revolution if it grows 'wild' in London!
Very interesting.
I have a suspicion that C. macroptera is a box where all the citrus that have big fruits and big winged leaves have been gathered.

[alias]

On dirait un hybride de citrus maxima avec ? bergamote ou autres?

[ilya11]

On dirait un hybride de citrus maxima avec ? bergamote ou autres?

Oui, c'est une autre possibilité. Peut-être il s’agit du pamplemoussier 'Double' (Lemon Banda) avec navel :

'Double' (incorrectly called 'Banda Navel'; known locally as 'Lemon Banda', 'Lemon Bonting', 'Lemon pompelmoes')–grown in the Banda and Ambon Islands, the Moluccas, Batavia and Java; first reported by Rumphius in 1741; sought out and found by O.A. Reinking in 1926. He supplied budwood of various types to the Departments of Agriculture in Java, Manila, and Washington, D.C. Fruit is round, oblate or faintly pear-shaped; 6 to 8 in (15-20 cm) wide; peel smooth, up to 1 in (2.5 cm) thick; shows no evidence of deformity but, inside, there is a second, rindless fruit the size of a small orange embedded in the apex. The main fruit has 19 segments, the lesser fruit 4; pulp may be red, pink-and-white, or white; is sweet and juicy; mostly seedless, rarely with one or a few more seeds. Occasionally, under adverse conditions, there are many seeds. Fruits are borne in clusters of 5 or 6; not all on a tree will be double. Tree may be low and spreading, to 15 ft (4.5 m) or upright and 18 to 30 ft (5.5-9 in) high.

https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/pummelo.html

[alias]

Le trou à l'apex peut nous faire penser à un navel.

[citrange]

Some more information about the location of this citrus.
It is in the warmest part of the Central London 'heat island' which really has a different climate from the rest of the UK.
Here is a map of temperatures on a clear night in May. This citrus is in the green area of the map.

In winter, on the coldest nights outside London, I believe it is very rarely below freezing in this area.
So it is not surprising to find that such a tree thrives here, planted close to a large building and facing south.
The tree is shown very well on Google streetview:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5284 ... 312!8i6656
Mike

[foufouche]

Peut-être pas un dracaena mais cordyline qui est plus robuste.

Oui pardon cordyline, je confond toujours le nom avec la plante d'intérieur .
Au delà de -8°C en conditions humides, le risque de perte est important et quand on voit sa taille sur la photo en pleine terre (petit pour le sud est de la France mais on est en UK) on devine le micro climat.
Sur ta carte on est intra muros, en prenant les points chauds de ce micro climat au coeur du centre on doit pas être loin de 10°c d'écart avec les zones froides de la périphérie de l'agglomération....autant dire que leurs conditions hivernales en terme de minima équivalent sans doute à celle de certains coins protégés du sud est de la France !
Je déménage!

[ilya11]

Et de plus il est adossé à un mur plein sud.

[aghuk]

New touristic spot in London !

[citrange]

Today I went to look at the citrus tree.
It is not a part of London I know very well.

Pour encourager le déménagement de foufouche, ici les plantes de ce quartier de Londres.
J'ai vu oliviers, bananiers, palmiers (Butia et Trachycarpus):



The citrus is I think some kind of pummelo - C. grandis.
The fruits do not have a navel, but the remains of the flower stigma is retained.
The leaves are about 15cms long with a large petiole and smell aromatic when crushed - a little similar to the smell of C. hystrix fruit.



As ordered by Sylvain, I collected some budwood and grafted four plants from it.

Mike/Citrange

[dddemars]

Logiquement, vu qu'il est rue Gosset, ce devrait être une orange ultra-douce ...

[ilya11]

Mike,
Have you managed to steal also a fruit?
I wonder if it is sour or sweet?

[citrange]

I knocked on the door of the apartment to ask if I could take a cutting.
The two Asian women who came didn't speak any English, but didn't object when I brought out my secateurs and showed them the twig I wanted to cut off. So it was with permission, not stealing!
I didn't bring a ladder with me, so no chance of any fruit which were all well above head height
If my grafts survive, I will let you know in a few years time whether the fruits are sweet or sour.
But even with the favorable micro-climate, I don't think London has enough heat to make any pummelo sweet.

[Sylvain]

> As ordered by Sylvain, I collected some budwood and grafted four plants from it.
Well done Mike!

[ilya11]

I So it was with permission, not stealing!