Photo: Debra Roby — CC BY 2.0 · source
Survives zone 8 through 9
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
Citrus × meyeri (Meyer lemon) is a naturally occurring Chinese hybrid — likely lemon crossed with a mandarin or pomelo — valued for fruit that is sweeter and less acidic than a true lemon, though it is markedly less cold-hardy than the other citrus catalogued on this wiki.
- Hardiness
- Zone 8–9
- Habit
- Shrub
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- Winter (citrus)
- Mature size
- Evergreen shrub 2–4 m; excellent in containers
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 6.0–6.5 (slightly acid)
- Environment
- Garden origin
- Native range
- No wild range — a hybrid of Chinese garden origin, lemon crossed with a mandarin or pomelo, which Frank Meyer of the USDA found growing as a cultivated plant near Beijing and introduced to the United States in 1908.
- Status
- Cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 2–3 yrs
- Growth speed
- Moderate growth rate once established — typically about 1–2 ft (30–60 cm) of new growth per year in-ground.
- Spacing
- 250 cm (98 in) apart — about 6.3 m² (67 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Evergreen, simple (unifoliate) leaves, dark green and glossy — the ordinary citrus leaf form, not trifoliate.
- Root system
- Sensitive to root disturbance and best left undisturbed once established; commercial trees are typically grafted onto a rootstock rather than grown on their own roots.
- Fruit description
- Rounder and smoother-skinned than a true lemon, ripening deep yellow with a slight orange blush. The thin, fragrant peel is edible, and the dark yellow, moderately seedy pulp is noticeably sweeter and less acidic than standard Lisbon or Eureka lemons — often described as tasting closer to a tangerine or navel orange. A genuinely good fresh-eating and all-purpose lemon substitute, prized in cooking, baking and drinks.
- Propagation
- Propagated almost exclusively by grafting onto rootstock — grafted trees typically begin fruiting within about 4 years. Commercial stock today should be the certified virus-free 'Improved Meyer Lemon' selection released by the University of California in 1975, since older seed- or cutting-propagated stock widely carried symptomless Citrus tristeza virus.
- Pollination
- Most Citrus SELF-FERTILE (many parthenocarpic/seedless)
The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Benefits from a high-nitrogen, slow-release fertilizer applied through the spring–fall growing season, in well-drained, organically rich, loamy soil at pH 5.5–7.0 with consistent but not excessive moisture.
How it spreads. A single-trunked, non-suckering small tree with a dense, rounded canopy 6–10 ft tall; not documented as spreading or naturalizing.
Growing tips. Considerably less cold-hardy than the true cold-hardy citrus relatives on this wiki — it has the best winter hardiness of the common lemon types, but still only tolerates minimum temperatures down to about -6°C (20°F), so in zones colder than 8 it is best grown in a container and moved under cover for winter. New growth is lightly thorny, with thorns converting into secondary branches as the wood matures.
Grow journal
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