B. A. No. 5160 (Lias, Bontoc).
Citrus mitis Blanco. Calamondin.
A small, somewhat spiny tree, 4 to 6 meters tall; young growth greenish; leaves elliptic oblong, 4 to 9 centimeters long and about 4 centimeters wide, crenulate; base acute; apex usually emarginate; petiole scarcely winged, 10 to 15 millimeters long; flowers axillary, solitary, rarely in pairs, 21 millimeters in diameter, fragrant; petals white, reflexed; stamens 18 to 20, unequal; filaments united into groups; ovary globose, 6 to 8 loculed; style slender, distinct; stigma knoblike; fruit globose, orange yellow, 2 to 4 centimeters in diameter; skin smooth, thin, brittle, separable from the flesh; pulp orange colored, juicy, acid, with distinct aroma; juice cells rather large, short, and blunt; seeds comparatively large, smooth, plump, sometimes beaked; polyembryonic.
The calamondin is widely distributed in the Philippines and occurs wild as well as cultivated. The plant makes an attractive, ornamental, small tree and the fruit may be made into marmalade or utilized in making ade. There are no particularly distinct forms of this species. The trees are almost invariably very prolific and almost everbearing. In Bohol the species is known as “limoncito.”
B. A. No. 2332 (Tanauan, Batangas).
Citrus webberii. Alsem.
A shrubby tree with small, sharp spines; leaves averaging 95 millimeters in length, and 32 millimeters in width, oblong-ovate, crenulate, dark green and shining above; base broadly acute; apex emarginate, petiole 27 millimeters long; wings rarely exceeding 12 millimeters in width; flowers terminal, rarely axillary, solitary, 20 millimeters in diameter, sweet scented; calyx small; petals white, reflexed; stamens 19 to 21, about equal; filaments united into groups of several; ovary small, obovoid, 7 to 11 loculed; style distinct, slender; stigma small, club shaped; fruit sometimes attaining a weight of 165 grams, form oblate, 58 millimeters long to 65 millimeters long to 66 across, to roundish oblate, sometimes compressed and wrinkled toward base ending in a pronounced nipple; apex a shallow depression, or mammilate with the circular depression more or less pronounced; surface smooth to fairly smooth; color greenish yellow to lemon yellow, lenticels few, depressed; skin thin, the “kid-glove” character more or less pronounced; flesh whitish to grayish, very juicy, aromatic; juice cells variable, from short and blunt to medium slender and tapering to one end; seeds ovate, flattened, smooth, sometimes beaked.
Plants of the alsem have never been seen by the writer in the provinces, the description of the plant having been made from budded plants growing at Lamao, propagated from material collected in Bulacan. The trees have a long flowering season, as fruits are offered in Manila throughout the summer to late in autumn. The variation in the fruit is very great, some being of little value, while others are extremely thin skinned, well flavored, juicy, aromatic, with less rag than perhaps any citrus fruit that has been examined by the writer. The floral characters correspond closely to those of the mandarin, which the fruit in some forms also resembles in appearance and in its loose-skinned character. Flavor and aroma place the alsem in close relationship with the cabuyao, C. histrix, and it is a curious fact that the Tagalogs always call it “cabuyao.” In common with the cabuyao it is frequently infested with the rindborer, Prays citri, while the mandarin is practically immune to this pest.
An analysis made by the Bureau of Science in November, 1912, of alsem fruits purchased by the writer in Manila gave the following results:
| Weight of— | Grams. |
| Fruit | 56.5 |
| Peel | 15 |
| Seed | 1.5 |
| Pulp (rag) | 13.5 |
| Juice | 26.5 |