Meyer Lemon

UCR describes Meyer lemon as believed to be a hybrid of lemon and orange parentage and records its 1908 introduction to the United States from Beijing by USDA explorer Frank Meyer. A GBS study of one sampled Meyer lemon inferred contributions from C. maxima, C. reticulata and C. medica, while leaving its exact maternal parent unresolved.^⁠[1]⁠[5]

Original Meyer introductions were symptomless tristeza-virus carriers. Improved Meyer denotes selected clean-stock clones whose regulatory virus-free status is based on specified tristeza testing; this sanitation history does not establish general disease resistance.^⁠[1]⁠[6]

This fruit was found near Peking, China, by the plant explorer Frank N. Meyer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and introduced in 1908. Because of its obvious resemblances to the lemon and its suitability as a substitute for that fruit, it has come to be known as the Meyer lemon.^⁠[1]

Introduced as a promising ornamental, it rapidly increased in popularity and soon fulfilled the most sanguine expectations. It has become one of the most widely used citrus fruits as a dooryard plant and is especially adapted for use potted or tubbed.^⁠[1]

Source-specific video accounts describe a range of Meyer fruit experiences rather than a single cultivar-wide profile: one very-ripe fruit had a spoken, unverified 9.6 Brix reading; individual tasters described sourness alongside comparatively greater sweetness, and a small non-blinded preference tasting favored Meyer. These observations retain their sample, rootstock, and method limits.^{⁠[8]⁠[11]⁠[12]⁠[13]}