Ichang "Lemon"

Woodlanders has long led the way in offering cold-hardy citrus, the kinds that carry fruit well beyond the usual citrus belt, and Ichang Lemon is a favorite of the group. The plant grows as a medium, evergreen small tree with large leaves on winged petioles and thorny branches, opens the fragrant white flowers typical of citrus in spring, and follows with very large, lemon-yellow, fragrant fruit.

Despite the name, Ichang Lemon is not a true lemon but a hardy hybrid, Citrus × wilsonii, a cross of the Ichang papeda, Citrus ichangensis, with the pomelo, Citrus maxima. The Ichang papeda parent, native to the cold hills around Yichang in central China, is one of the most frost-tolerant citrus known, and passes that toughness on. Seed reached Western growers through the plant explorer Frank Meyer in 1919, and in China the fragrant fruit was once carried in the hand like a living perfume, earning the name shangjuan, the fragrant ball.

In the kitchen the large, juicy, seedy fruit stands in for lemons: the bright, tangy juice, with subtle earthy notes, makes fine lemonade and marmalade, and a pie built from these fruit is, in our experience, perhaps better than the real thing. The heavy crop ripens through late fall and winter, exactly when a fresh, tart citrus is most welcome, and the flowers and fruit both carry a clean, far-reaching fragrance.

The real appeal is hardiness. Ichang Lemon shrugs off cold to around ten to fifteen degrees Fahrenheit, and has fruited outdoors far north of the citrus belt, as far as New Jersey. Give the tree full sun and well-drained soil in the warm South, or grow the plant in a large pot to move under cover when hard freezes threaten. As a specimen the glossy evergreen leaves, fragrant spring bloom, and heavy gold fruit all earn a place near a patio or entry where the scent can be enjoyed.