Improved Meyer Lemon

This is my lemon tree. I've been dragging it around with me since I bought it in April. Currently, it has about 10 lemons and it seems as though they are taking forever to ripen. I suspect I'll have to wait at least another two or three months. I had one in my garden in Austin and vaguely remember them being ripe at Thanksgiving.

The Improved Meyer is a dwarf variety that is more cold hardy than most other lemon trees and grows well in a container. It is also known as the Valley lemon in southern Texas due to its popularity in the Rio Grande Valley area.

In 1908 Frank Meyer, working as an agricultural explorer (I want that job!) for the USDA, brought the citrus tree (Citrus x meyeri) to the US from China.

This variety is "improved" because the original fruit that came from China carried the citrus tristeza virus and all propagation of non-improved Meyer lemons stopped in 1976. (Texas A&M calls non-improved Meyer lemon tree the "Typhoid Mary" of citrus because it has the potential to destroy the Texas citrus industry. The virus does not harm the lemon tree itself but it could spread and do harm to other varieties of citrus.) All Meyer lemon trees now sold are grafted using budwood that originates in the California Virus Free Budwood Programs. So, they are called "Improved".

Meyer lemons are actually a natural hybrid of lemon and mandarin orange. They taste sweeter and are less acidic than a 'regular' (Eureka or Lisbon) lemon and have a slightly orange color when fully ripe. It is rare to find them in a grocery store because their thin skin makes them difficult to ship.