ORANGE, the name of one or more species of citrus (q.v.), of which the fruit is much prized. Botanists generally regard all the oranges as of one species, citrus aurantiuni, but some follow Russo in the sweet orange, the hitter orange, the bergamot orange, etc., distinct species. The wild state of the orange is not certainly known, although its characters may be pretty confidently inferred from the degeneration of cul tivated varieties; and no cultivated plant shows a greater liability to degenerate, so that seedling oranges are almost always worthless. Nor is its native country more certain, although there is much reason to believe that all the kinds have spread over the world from the warmer central and eastern parts of Asia. It has been alleged that the orange is a native of North America, near the gulf of Mexico; but the probability rather seems to be that it has been introduced, and has become naturalized.
Tile COMMON ORANGE, or SWEET ORANGE (citrus aurantium of Rissio), is an ever green tree of moderate size, with greenish-brown bark; the leaves oblong, acute, some times minutely serrated, the leaf-stalks more or less winged, the flowers white, the fruit roundish, the oil-cysts of the rind convex, the juice sweet and acid. It is cultivated in almost every part of the world of which the climate is warm enough, but succeeds best in the warmer temperate or sub-tropical climates, as in the s. of Europe, where it is very extensively cultivated, as far n. as the a. of France. The orange does not seem to have been known to the Greeks or Romans, but was probably brought to Europe by the Moors, and is supposed to have been introduced into Italy so recently as the 14th c., fully 1000 years after the citron. In the n. of Italy, oranges are sometimes grown in conservatories, but often in the open air, except during winter, when they are covered with temporary houses of boards. In the s. of England they are sometimes in like man ner grown in the open air, with a shelter of boards or matting in winter, but trained against a south wall; attaining a large size, and yielding good fruit. The abundant
importation of the fruit, however, renders the cultivation of the orange ill Britain unnec essary; and, in general, only small plants are to be seen in green-houses or conserva tories, as mere objects of interest. In former times, when the evergreen shrubs in culti vation were much fewer than now, orange trees were very commonly cultivated in pots, both iu green-houses and in windows of apartments in Britain, as is still the case in the northern parts of Germany. The orange loves a rich soil, and succeeds well in a strong clay. There are many varieties ill cultivation, which are perpetuated by grafting upon seedling orange stocks, and by layers.
'Of the varieties of the sweet orange, perhaps the most deserving of notice are the PORTUGAL or LISBON ORANGE, the most common of all, having the fruit generally round or nearly so, and a thick rind; the CHINA ORANGE, said to have been brought by the Portuguese from China, and now much cultivated in the a. of Europe, having a smooth thin rind and very abundant juice; the MALTESE or BLOOD ORANGE, ronarktible for the blood-red color of its pulp; the EGG ORANGE, having fruit of an oval shape; and the TANGERINE ORANGE. having a small flat fruit, with a pleasant odor and finely flavored pulp. The ST. illicirAku.'s ORANGE appears to be a sub-variety of the China orange. The MAJORCA ORANGE is seedless, resembling in this certain cultivated varie ties of other fruits.
The BITTER ORANGE, SEVILLE ORANGE, or BIGARADE (citrus or C. Ugara gia), is distinguished from the sweet orange by the more truly elliptical leaves, the acid And bitter juice of the fruit, and the concave oil-cysts of its rind. Its branches are also spiny, which is rarely the case with the sweet orange. The varieties in cultivation are oumerous. The bitter orange was extensively cultivated by the Moors in Spain, prob.. ibly for medicinal purposes. The rind is more bitter than that of the sweet orange, and is used as a stomachic and tonic. Its chief use, however, is for flavoring puddings, bakes, etc., and for making marmalade.