World of CitrusKaffir Lime
UCR records CRC 2454 as received as a live plant in 1930 from the Office of Crop Physiology and Breeding Investigations, Washington, District of Columbia. Its Parentage/origins note reads “Parents unknown. From Ceylon.” These are accession-provenance statements; they do not establish the species’ native range or named parents.
Sources: [1]
UCR gives a tentative etymological account: it traces “Kaffir” to Arabic kafara and says the fruit was most likely encountered by Indian Muslims as an import from places including Thailand and Sri Lanka, with the name passing into English from that Indian usage. This is UCR's proposed naming route, not established provenance. Separately, the 1967 botanical treatment reproduced by UCR describes Citrus hystrix as widely naturalized and says its native habitat is uncertain. A discrete species-origin, discovery or introduction date is not established here.
Sources: [1]