Monday 10 August 2009

Buddah's Hand; Citrus medica;





Photos TS/ please click the pictures to have a better view of the odd shaped fruit.


Photo source Wikipedia



Buddha's Hand, Buddha's Hand citron, or Fingered citron (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylus) is a fragrant citron variety whose fruit is segmented into finger-like sections.
The citron grows on small tree with long, irregular branches covered in
thorns. Its large, oblong leaves are pale green and grow about four to six inches. Its white flowers are tinted purplish from the outside and grow in fragrant clusters.
The fruit has a thick peel and only a small amount of acidic flesh (if any) and is juiceless and sometimes seedless. It is very fragrant.
The peel of the fruit can be candied into
succade. In Western cooking, it is often used for its zest. The inner white pith is not bitter as is usually the case with citrus, so the fingers may be cut off and then longitudinally sliced, peel pith and all, and used in cooking.

The origin of Buddha's Hand is traced back to Northeastern India or China.
The tree itself is sensitive to frost, as well as intense heat and drought.. Trees can be grown from cuttings taken from branches two to four years old.
Wikipedia
To read more click here
Believe it or not: Historically, walled kitchen gardens were a necessary indulgence providing food, herbs and flowers for the household.

16 comments:

easygardener said...

Now that is an odd one - and well named. You have got to love the plant world - even more varied than humanity!

Pearl Maple said...

How cool is that, the story behind the name makes it all the more interesting. Aren't we lucky to be able to grow something almost any time of the year in this climate.

Pietro Brosio said...

Very interesting, Titania. Beautiful pictures of the plant, great light and shades!

Sisah said...

Toll, so eine ungewöhnliche Zitrusvarietät im Garten zu haben, verwendest du Früchte ?
LG
Sisah

Prospero said...

Certainly a most unusual member of the citrus family. Titania, did you grow your tree from seed?

MedaM said...

I’ve never seen this plant before. Its fruits really look so interesting.

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Amazing! On some pictures, it really looks like a hand! Thank you Titania, I've never hear or seen it before!

Pia K said...

it's a jungle out there, no wait, it's titania's garden;) they look wonderful, in a weird and unusual way and very useful it seems. lucky you!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Easygardener; yes it looks odd, it has a little from an octopus as well!

Pearl Maple; yes we are lucky to be able to grow lot of interesting and different plants in our climate.

Pietro. thanks for your visit.

sisah; man kann sie brauchen wie Zitronen als zest, man kann alles frish essen da es nicht bitter ist. Ein sehr starker Citrus Duft.

Prospero it grows from cuttings.

Meda; thank you for your interest. It is not a usual tree.

Thanks Tatyana, this fruit has no juice and it is not as popular as lemons!

Pia, thank you and your are right, I am taming it at the moment before it gets hot; today they have announced 27 C and winter has still three weeks to go!

LoLa said...

A very interesting member of the citrus family. Thanks for sharing. I learned something new today.

Hort Log said...

Hi Trudi,

thanks for your lead. Somehow the comments did not come out.

Alice said...

Weird, yet attractive. Looks like it should be used as some sort of decoration.

Have you ever eaten the peel?

Kerri said...

Trudi, how are you? I haven't been getting around to visit my favourite blog friends much lately. All the work there is to do in the garden leaves me too tired most nights.
You have the most amazing plants in your garden. That fruit really does resemble the fingers on a hand.
I hope you're well and enjoying your QLD winter. It's probably as warm as our NY summer :) Or perhaps even a bit warmer!

Anonymous said...

What an unusual looking plant! Lovely to see your new profile picture Titania.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Lola thanks for your visit.

Hort Log, the web address:
http://bromeliad.net.au/bulbs

Alice, this fruit is very much used as food, finely shredded it is used over fish or salads etc.

Hi Kerri; thank you, yes it is already getting warm. The first evening I did not need a jumper. I am busy taming my wilderness before it gets hot!

Michelle thank you for your visit.

Raja said...

Very interesting read. Never seen those fruits in life before.