Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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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.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 10–11
- Soil
- Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Sub-Canopy- Soil pH
- 6–6.5
- Plant type
- Evergreen Tree
- Mature height
- 6–12 ft
- Mature spread
- 4–6 ft
- Plant spacing
- 4–6 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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