Stats

Lifespan: Up to 50 yrs
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Tropical rainforest
Range: Southeast Asia
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Spines
Status: Uncommon

About

The makrut lime is prized across Southeast Asian cuisines for its intensely aromatic double-lobed leaves — each petiole flares as wide as the leaflet itself, making every leaf look like two joined end to end. Its deeply wrinkled, bumpy rind yields a bold floral zest used in Thai curries, Balinese spice pastes, and Indonesian sambals.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Citrus
Species: Citrus hystrix