Australian Finger Lime

The world is experiencing a surge of new varieties of different citrus being introduced. None with more excitement than the Australian Finger Lime. This may be due to the wonderful long finger-like lime flavored fruit it produces. The long 3 to 4 inch narrow fruit is packed with small round prills. Each containing a burst of lime flavored juice. The prills can be added to drinks or sprinkled on a salad. They can be squeeze on to a taco or into your favorite beer. The flavor of the Australian Finger lime may be better than traditional limes. Even eating them fresh, a blast of lime flavor is followed by a lingering lime flavor on the back palette. On of the few fruit producing plants that will tolerate shade. The finger Lime grows as an understory plant in the eucalyptus forests of Australia. So a morning sun and afternoon shade location is ideal for this plant. The history though, suggests we are lucky to have finally discovered it. Citrus australasica is a native to Australia growing as a forest understory plant in the native rainforests of SE Queensland and Northern NSW. In their native-habitat the Finger Lime reaches 20 feet tall, living under the dappled shade provided by the tall forest trees. The Finger Limes comes in many sizes and colors and variations on the lime flavor. But the understanding of the potential of this citrus variety had long been under appreciated. The Finger Limes evolution has been traced back over 18 million years. Being isolated to Australia and New Guinea and evolving from seven species of Citrus once known as Microcitrus. After millions of years the Finger Lime as it is commonly called has emerged as two separate species C. garrawayae and C. australasica, the latter being the variety that current selections are being made.