Lime

Lime, the fruit of Citrus Limetta, similar to the Lemon (q.v.), but usually globular, with a nipple-like protuberance at the apex. It is regarded by many botanists as a hybrid between the orange and the lemon. There are many varieties, varying more or less in shape and size, and in the more essential characteristics of relative thickness, flavour, acidity, and juiciness of the rind and pulp. The tree varies as much in dimensions as the fruit, according to kind. It appears to have originated in the East, but in some of the varieties, such as the Bergamotte lime and Adam's Apple—which is often but erroneously confounded with the Shaddock (q.v.)—and others, it has been cultivated from the remotest times in Italy, the south of France, and the Mediterranean region generally. The uses of the fruit are the same practically as those of the lemon, the juice being equally efficacious as an antiscorbutic (see SCURVY).