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 The lemon blossoms can be single or in pairs and the
petals, when the buds are young, are whitish internally and violet externally.
The lemon is a remontant
species: in a mild climate it reproduces all the year round, even though
the main blossomings are concentrated in spring, with the production of the
winter lemons (primifiori), and in
September, with the production of the so-called verdelli, which ripen in June. Anyway, the first buds are already
visible in winter.
The flowers are hermaphrodite,
with a corolla made mainly of 5 petals. The masculine system consists of two
verticils of 4/5 stamens, the feminine system consists of 5 carpels gathered in
a superior ovary, divided in 5-10 loculi.
The main blossomings
First blossoming
from March to June: it produces
lemons primofiore, cropped from
September to October, and the autumn or the winter lemons ("scion-lemons",
lemons and biacuzzati), cropped from
November to May.
Second blossoming
from June to the end of July: it produces bianchetti (or biancuzzi or maiolini),
cropped from February to May.
Third blossoming,
forced if necessary, from August to October: at the end of April it produces the maggiolini and from May o September the verdelli, the agostani and
the bastardi.
The autumn and the winter lemons (primofiore) have the best quality. Anyway, the two main productions
are the bianchetti and the verdelli.
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Farmer's advice
To the pluck the fruit off the tree use the scissors
provided for this purpose and cut the peduncle close to the skin.
What is the kumquat?
The Kumquat,
that a botanist would call Fortunella
japonica and Fortunella margarita,
is an oval and oblong "miniature" of the orange that comes from the East.
It has never been found growing spontaneously. It
probably comes from China,
where it is still grown, as also in Japan,
Indochina and Java. Only later it was
introduced in the Mediterranean Countries and then it arrived at the overseas
lands, America and Australia. It
is also called Little Chinese Orange
or Japanese Tangerine.
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Botany 
