Lisbon LemonLISBON

Introduced into the United States from Australia in 1874.  Shipped to Elliott Cooper of Santa Barbara, California, the quality of the Lisbon was markedly superior to the seedling trees from Sicily being grown in Southern California.  To insure uniform quality, Cooper propagated additional trees by budding, and so normalized that practice in California citrus culture.  A second installment of Lisbon lemons arrived in 1875. Nurseryman D. H. Burnham used this stock to disseminate the plants throughout the United States.  In California it was determined that it grew superlatively well near the coast.  This information prompted curiosity about the variety in Florida where it was grown from1880 onward. It remains an important market melon in the United States and in citrus growing areas around the world. Various strains of Lisbon were developed--a seedless, a frost tolerant, the Monroe, Galligan, and Lupe strains. USDA GRIN: PI#539330.

With a tree taller, hardier, and more prolific than the Eureka lemon, the Lisbon became the second most widely commercial lemon in California at the beginning of the twentieth century.  The Lisbon was grown on a variety of citrus stocks.  Fruit was harvested  in November.  In the 19th century the trees were planted at 40 foot spacing because of the rank growth.  In the Twentieth century a closer planting prevailed.  

"The fruits are largely borne on the inside of the tree and are protected from climatic injuries by the covering of rather dense dark-green leaves. The leaves are of medium size, oval in shape, obtuse, slightly crenate, abundant, and from deep to dark green in colorr. The flowers are usually perfect.  The typical fruits . . . are oblong oval in shape, of medium size, and of very smooth texture. The rag is tender, and the juice is abundant and of strong acidity. The fruits average about four seeds each, and the rinds are thin" [A. D. Shamel, Citrus Fruit Improvement; a Study of Bud Variation in the Lisbon Lemon USDA Bulletin 815 (1920], 6-7].

Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705, Amanda Newton, 1914. 

David S. Shields