Liscione, Speciale (sec. Cottin 2002)
Citrus x limon (L.) Osbeck, pro sp. (sensu Mabberley 1997, Bayer et al. 2009); Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f. [=Citrus x limon (L.) Osbeck, pro sp.] (sensu Swingle and Reece 1967)
Crown compact or dense, not weeping. First-year twig surface glabrous; second- or third-year twig surface striate; thorns absent or not persistent; prickles absent or not persistent. Petiole glabrous, length short; wings absent. Leaflets one, margin bluntly toothed, shade leaflet blades flat or weakly conduplicate, sun leaflet blades weakly conduplicate. Scent of crushed leaflets freshly lemon-like. Fruit as broad as long or longer than broad; rind green-yellow (6), yellow (7-10), or yellow-orange (11); rind texture slightly rough (4-5); firmness leathery; navel absent; flesh yellow; taste sour.
Hodgson (1967) provided the following additional notes on the cultivar:
"Fruit large, oblong-cylindrical; collared or short-necked; truncate at apex; prominent sharp-pointed conical nipple surrounded by pronounced areolar furrow, commonly deeper on one side; seeds very few. Color yellow at maturity. Rind thin, very smooth, shining; tightly adherent. Segments 8 to 9; axis medium-small and solid. Flesh color greenish-yellow; crisp and juicy; flavor highly acid with slight bitterness. Crop produced mainly in fall and early winter. Earliest of Italian varieties.
Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, usually thornless; foliage moderately dense. Leaves large and somewhat citron-like, with round-pointed blades, undulate margins, and short wingless petioles. Moderately productive but does not respond well to forcing treatment and hence grown primarily for early fruit."
Bayer, R.J., D.J. Mabberley, C. Morton, C.H. Miller, I.K. Sharma, B.E. Pfeil, S. Rich, R. Hitchcock, and S. Sykes. 2009. A molecular phylogeny of the orange subfamily (Rutaceae: Aurantioideae) using nine cpDNA sequences. American Journal of Botany 96: 668–685.
Burke, J.H. 1962. Citrus industry of Italy. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Foreign Agricultural Report. 59:75 pp.
Cottin, R. 2002. Citrus of the World: A citrus directory. Version 2.0. France: SRA INRA-CIRAD.
Hodgson, R.W. 1967. Horticultural varieties of Citrus. In: Reuther, W., H.J. Webber, and L.D. Batchelor (eds.). The Citrus industry, rev. University of California Press. http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter4.html.
Mabberley, D.J. 1997. A classification for edible Citrus (Rutaceae). Telopea 7: 167–172.
Swingle, W.T. and P.C. Reece. 1967. The botany of Citrus and its wild relatives. In: Reuther, W., H.J. Webber, and L.D. Batchelor (eds.). The Citrus industry. Ed. 2. Vol. I. University of California, Riverside. http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter3.html.
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