Idlimbu, Sour orange, Citrus aurantium - Plant

A small evergreen, thorny tree up to 10 m high. The flowers are large and white and the fruit is globose, often bright orange-red when ripe. The fruit, leaves, and flowers yield a volatile bigarade oil used in flavoring, liqueurs, perfumes, and medicines.

The tree ranges in height from less than 3m to 10m, is more erect and has a more compact crown than the sweet orange. It has smooth, brown bark, green twigs, angular when young, and flexible, not very sharp. The evergreen leaves, are aromatic, alternate, on broad-winged petioles much longer than those of the sweet orange; usually ovate with a short point at the apex, minutely toothed, dark-green above, pale beneath, and dotted with tiny oil glands. The highly fragrant flowers, borne singly or in small clusters in the leaf axils. The fruit is round, oblate or oblong-oval, 2 3/4 to 3 1/8 in (7-8 cm) wide, rough-surfaced, with a fairly thick, aromatic, bitter peel becoming bright reddish-orange on maturity and having minute, sunken oil glands.

Plant Specifications

• Plant Height: 36 inch (91 cm)
• Plant Spread: 7 inch (18 cm)

*above specification are indicative only. actual dimensions may vary by +-10%

• Common Name: Bitter orange, Seville orange, Sour orange, Bigarade orange, or Marmalade orange.
• Maximum Reachable Height: 6-10 meters.
• Flower Colour: White.
• Bloom Time: April-June
• Difficulty Level: Easy to grow.

Planting and care

They need pruning each year to maintain an attractive shape. Cut all dead wood and crossing branches. Prune ornamental citrus to open the crown foliage to let in light and air.

Idlimbu care

• Sunlight: Full sunlight.
• Watering: Irrigation should be done an interval of 10-15 days during winter months whereas during summer months it should be done at an interval of 5-7 days.
• Soil: It can be grown in well-drained loamy as well as in clay soil.
• Temperature: 15-35 degree C
• Fertilizer: Use Nitrogen-rich fertilizer such as urea 3 times in a year, once at early spring then in early summer and last in early winter.
• Harvest Season: Feb-May.

Idlimbu uses

Ornamental Use:
It can be planted in the pot
Medicinal Use:

Sour orange juice is antiseptic, anti-bilious and hemostatic
The flowers, prepared as a syrup, act as a sedative in nervous disorders and induce sleep
An infusion of the bitter bark is taken as a tonic, stimulant, febrifuge, and vermifuge

Culinary Use

• The fruit is used in marmalades: An oil is extracted from the fruit peel and used as a flavor in bakery, soft drinks, and candies