The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-03-11
FIVE-FINGERBD ORANGE.
It Is a Japanese Variety TO h Ey
n Rawged Shrub.

The f~ve-fngered orange is a queer
thing. 1t grows in exactly the shape of
a human hand. with a thumb and four
fingers. 1t is a half-open hand, that of
this curious fruit. and the close resem-
blance to a lean, l~ong-nailed Chinese hand
is startling. Even the nails are Identical,
~hard-pointed and claw-like, tipping the
orange fingers with a length equal in
some cases to three inches. 1t is no in
terloper in a w~ell-regulated family of
oranges, but q regular member, belonging
to the Usage variety. 1t has a family
name and a Christian name of its own,
but its pet name is "flve-fingered orange"
and nobody but the botanist cares to call
it by the long one, which means the same
thing.
F. Gonzalez. who lives out on Wayne
street, found the odd plant a year or two
ago over in Japan. He thought he had
discovered a sort of missing link, so he
bought it and brought it home to put
into the conservatory among his h cest
plants, where he guards 1t as the apple
OF his eye. Not a scale CIR bug or other
ravaging insect has a chance to live on
its leaves. for he had a special bathtub
built for it's use, with a sheet-.ron Chin
ney in the centre. IN which he places it
periodically, puts a cover over the whole
thing and gives it a Turk .sh bath treat
HiSlI VI SutDuGT dlla OtuGI IuIuGS aSuCl
as would make even the sturdiest scale
bug turn up its toes. 1t is hardly q
shrub. the outdoor climate Of San Fran
cisco agreeing with its health eXceliently,
although it's owner s so choice of it that
he doesn't give it a chance to sleep cut
very often In its native country it is
s asaail 70 b Be ful P0' sIiv;e a to its sn val 1ep as an
ornamental curiosity, for Mr.. Gonzalez
found it a d fiicult matter to get cnes to
bring to America, and SO far nobody else
ever did get one.
This orange tree is a rugged little, shrub
that does not average more than five or
SIX feet in height. It does grow
supposed to do, but S curved everywhere.
1t would be very difficult to find two con-
secntiye inches in the entire tree whose
line of direction is the same. Even the
branches grow in spiral forms, so that
the width of tn tree is often as great as
thorns hidden under the leaves, and they
are thorns hat mean business. They are
slender, tongh and long, and are3located
IN all sorts Of unexpected places. The
leaves are deshy, long and narrow and of
a dark green color. They resemble a.
lemon leaf more than an orange leaf. In
deed, in both this instance and in the
plant seems to claim a very close cousin
ship to the large lemon family. The
flowers come out In June n July. n
are very similar in appearance n odor
to the ordinary orange blossoms, save that
instead of the fam liar creamy white
color tley hdVe a Qellcdte pinklSn TINT,
which Is very beautiful. They. COM
monty grow in clusters of two or three
blossoms on alternate nodes of the
branch.
The fruit itself is of a light yellow
color, a pure lemon hue, growing greenish
toward the stem. The size is immense,
|4considered relatively to other oranges or
to- the size of the tree. the largest ones
measuring when mature fully ten inches
from the wrist to the point Of the middle
finger, including the nail. 1t is always
necessary to furnish a support in the
way of props and strings to sustain the
growing fruit, or the LIMB will be broken
by the weight. The fingers CT the orange
divide at about half the distance from
the wrist, and though the division lines
| can be plainly seen throughout the en-
tire length of the hand they do not de.
stroy its contour. The proportional
length of the fingers from the thumb to
the little finger Is perfect, corresponding
exactly with that of q human hand.
The fruit Is not edible-none OF the Usage
variety is-but what it lacks in beng
unable to tickle the palate 4 more than
makes good in perfume. Thu sranEest
thing connected with the perfume IS that
It is the fru I and not the flower that. is
most odorous. The fruit when rip Is 80
redolent thai Its scent can pc Recognized
q full mile from where tho orange lis
growinE.-San Francisco Chronicle