page_title: Citrus limetta
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Citrus limetta / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Sweet lemon, Citrus limetta 'Millsweet', in the Linnean House of the Missouri Botanical Garden
context_page_description: Citrus limetta, alternatively considered to be a cultivar of Citrus limon, C. limon 'Limetta', is a species of citrus, commonly known as mousambi, musambi, sweet lime, sweet lemon, and sweet limetta, it is a member of the sweet lemons. It is a cross between the citron and a bitter orange.
  It is native to southern regions of Iran and also cultivated in the Mediterranean Basin.
  In Iran it is called limu shirin.
  In Pakistan, usually, it is called musambi.
  In India, it is commonly called mausambi, mosambi, or musambi, musambi in Kannada, battayi in Telugu, chinikaya in Rayalaseema, musambi in Malayalam, and satukudi or satukodi in Tamil.
  In Nepali, it is called mausam.
  In the Sindh, it is known as mosami.
  Among Iraqi Armenians, it is called noumi.
  In France, it is sometimes called bergamot; it should not be confused with Citrus bergamia, the Bergamot orange.
  It is a different fruit from the Palestinian sweet lime and from familiar sour limes such as the Key lime and the Persian lime. However, genomic analysis revealed it to be highly similar to the Rhobs el Arsa, and the two likely represent progeny of distinct crosses of the same citrus parents.
context_section_description: C. limetta is a small tree up to 8 m (26 ft) in height, with irregular branches and relatively smooth, brownish-grey bark. It has numerous thorns, 15–75 mm (0.59–2.95 in) long. The petioles are narrowly but distinctly winged, and are 8–29 mm (0.31–1.14 in) long. Leaves are compound, with acuminate leaflets 50–170 mm (2.0–6.7 in) long and 28–89 mm (1.1–3.5 in) wide. Flowers are white, 20–30 mm (0.79–1.18 in) wide. Fruits are oval and green, ripening to yellow, with greenish pulp. The pith is white and about 5 mm (0.20 in) thick. Despite the name sweet lime, the fruit is more similar to a greenish orange in appearance.
  C. limetta grows in tropical and subtropical climates. It begins bearing fruit at 5 to 7 years old, with peak production at 10 to 20 years. It is propagated by seed.
caption: ‘Millsweet’ cultivar of limetta in growth.
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-TZ7", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.2", "Image DateTime": "2011:10:08 17:57:46", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "634", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D3": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10740", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9757", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "33/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:10:08 17:57:46", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:10:08 17:57:46", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "41/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3648", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2736", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "10340", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "25", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}