The small scrubby and thorny key lime tree (Citrus aurantifolia), implanted in the corner of the yard, provides the delicious lime juice needed for your key lime pie. While selecting the tiny green fruits puts your hands in risk of puncture wounds, the tart, delicious limes make the risk worthwhile. The key lime, also called the bartender’s, Mexican or West Indian lime, grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 and 10. Native to southeast Asia, the main lime was brought into the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese from the early 1500s.
The Initial Key Lime
Key lime trees are small, rarely growing taller than 13 feet and equally broad. While the tree might flower and produce fruits throughout the year, the most important harvest is in the early fall. The limes are 1 1/2 inches in diameter, with a thin rind and an acidic, delicious flesh. Extremely frost sensitive, the trees need winter protection even in the South, West and Southwest. While home gardeners in the United States develop key lime trees in very sheltered microclimates, commercial groves are mainly found in tropical counties, such as Central and South America, Egypt, India, Mexico and the West Indies.
“Giant” Key Lime
The “Giant” key lime was found among the typical key lime seedlings in 1973. Produced by the USDA Research Station, “Giant” key lime was published for sale in 1994. While the “Giant” key lime trees would be the exact same size as a standard key lime, the fruits are twice the size of their parent vegetables, growing around 4 inches. The flavor is the same as the main lime.
Dwarf Key Lime
A key lime tree might be grafted onto flying dragon rootstock, further decreasing the small tree to approximately 2 to 4 feet tall. These dwarf versions of the key lime are suitable for container gardening, allowing gardeners to overwinter the trees in sunlight rooms and greenhouses in cooler climates. There is also a thornless variety of dwarf key lime available, but it produces fewer fruits than a standard key lime tree. All of the dwarf varieties make precisely the same size fruit as the standard key lime tree.
Key Lime Hybrids
Citrus trees have been known for their propensity to cross-pollinate, producing new hybrids. The Tahitian lime (Citrus x latifolia), also called the Persian or Bearss lime, is a hybrid of the main lime and the citron. The bigger and sweeter Tahitian limes are the limes often found at the grocery store. Another important lime hybrid is the limequat (Citrus x fortunella). Produced by Dr. Walter Swingle in 1909, the limequat is a hybrid of the main lime and kumquat. The fruits resemble the important lime, however, the trees are somewhat more cold tolerant than the main lime tree.
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