Do Lemon or Lime Shrubs Bear Fruit?

Eureka Lemon

• Eureka originally grew from a seed taken from an Italian lemon, most likely Lunario. Thomas Garey propagated it in 1877 and named it Garey's Eureka. The plant bears oblong lemons with a protruding nipple in clusters that hang below the foliage. Eureka lemons are juicy and very acidic. The tree, which is nearly thornless, grows 8 to 12 feet tall.

Improved Meyer Lemon

• The Improved Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and mandarin orange and is the most common lemon grown by home gardeners. Named for Frank Meyer, a plant explorer who found it in China in 1908, it grows about 8 feet tall and does well in containers. Meyer lemons are sweeter than true lemons, have a thin skin and are valued for drinks and cooking.

Bearss Lime

• Bearss lime, a Tahitian lime, originated about 1895, propagated by J.T. Bearss, a California nurseryman. It is thought identical to the Persian lime. The large fruit is usually seedless, with a thin, light-yellow rind, maturing in late fall or early winter. The nearly thornless tree grows 12 feet tall.

Kaffir Lime

• The Kaffir lime' fruit is lemon-shaped but with a thick, bumpy, gnarled surface. The leaves of this lime plant are valued, especially in Thai cooking. The leaves carry a sweet, lemony scent and flavor, but the lime juice is too flowery for delicately flavored dishes. The tree is native to Southeast Asia and grows to about 12 feet tall.

Key Lime

• Key lime is the most widely cultivated lime. It is a Mexican lime producing small, rounded fruit with a thin rind and acidic flavor. It blooms and fruits nearly year-round, and both the juice and peel are used in drinks, cooking and desserts. The tree, which reaches 12 feet tall, was grown for centuries and became an important crop in the Florida Keys when the 1906 hurricane wiped out pineapple growing. The lime fields were destroyed in another hurricane in 1926, but the name stuck.