Perrine Lemon

The 1931 account says Walter T. Swingle made Mexican lime–Genoa lemon hybrids in 1909, using Mexican lime as the female parent. It reports that the fruit’s appearance was more lemon-like than lime-like.^⁠[2]

The 1931 account says the fruit first bore at Little River in Florida’s lower east coast region and was considered promising for warm districts. It names the hybrid for Henry Perrine and recounts the historical reports about his Florida plantings.^⁠[2]

The historical description characterizes Perrine fruit as lemon-shaped, with a thin, tough rind, 10–12 segments, and usually 4–6 seeds (sometimes up to 12). It describes pale greenish-yellow, tender, juicy pulp and an evergreen, compact, vigorous tree with unifoliate leaves.^⁠[2]

The 1931 account reported no citrus scab on Perrine fruit or foliage under favorable conditions at that time, while further inoculations were in progress. Its separate April 1930 lime-withertip shoot test is described in the next paragraph.^⁠[2]

In April 1930, H. E. Stevens tested 12 young growing Perrine shoots at the Orlando disease laboratory by placing infected Key lime shoots in contact under conditions considered favorable for withertip. The report says no infections developed on the treated shoots.^⁠[2]

The 1931 authors proposed that the hybrid’s disease-response pattern could reflect presumed lime-withertip immunity in common lemon and citrus-scab immunity in Mexican lime. This is their historical explanation, not an independently established genetic mechanism.^⁠[2]

The 1931 account reports Perrine fruit acid content as 6.39% anhydrous citrus acid, compared with 5.17% for Villa Franca lemon and 6.89% for Key lime. A footnote credits B. R. Fudge, assistant chemist at the Citrus Experiment Station in Lake Alfred; sample size and method are not stated.^⁠[2]