Plant · P-419

Finger Lime

Citrus australasica

Finger Lime is an Australian rainforest-understory shrub grown for a fruit unlike any other citrus: the finger-shaped fruit holds free-rolling juice vesicles that burst separately rather than a pulp, prized as a garnish and texture on seafood, raw fish, desserts and cocktails, wholesaling around $125 a pound as a specialty crop rather than a staple. It's the tenderest citrus of all - it must be protected below 32 F - but it takes container culture well, holding to 6 to 8 ft in a half-barrel against 12 ft or more in the ground. Its many thorns mean harvest and pruning need gloves, though the same thorns make it double as a barrier planting wherever it can be grown at all.