I've just been discussing Florida lemon varieties with someone, and it occurs to me that this forum might be interested in an item of long-term confusion among citrus hobbyists. The issue of what is called "Bearss."

'Bearss' lime is a selection of 'Tahiti' (a.k.a. "Persian") lime, grown to a small extent commercially in California, and when you buy a plant from a California or Arizona nursery with the name "Bearss" associated with the plant, you will nearly always get this lime variety. In this case, it is correctly pronounced "beers," as in what you would call two Coors Lights and a Budweiser.

'Bearss' lemon is a true lemon (C. limon) historically grown commercially in Florida, apparently originally from Sicily. It proved to be better adapted to Florida's climate than Eureka or Lisbon, which are the more popular Western varieties. If you see a tree with the name "Bearss" associated with it in Floria, it will nearly always be this lemon. And in this case, it is pronounced "bears," as in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but the final "s" is hissed (unvoiced) rather than a "z" sound.

The two have nothing to do with each other, and the origins of their names seem to be independent as well. So it's an odd bit of citrus nomenclatural history.

Thank you- I had been confused about those issues.

I have an in ground Bearss lemon that is extremely productive in Gainesville. Last year I got about 200 lemons, a large number around a pound each. The flavor is great. We use them for cooking, lemonade, marmalade, zesting. Just made some great blueberry-lemon marmalade. The recipe called for two lemons, but because mine were so big, I used four. Nice and tangy.

Well shoot. That's interesting to know. I've already got a Eureka and Lisbon and I've been looking for a Villa Franca for some time now. Now I've got to add Bearss to that...

"Darlin', I know I said I wasn't going to expand the greenhouse anymore, but Dr. Manners just convinced me I really needed that Bearss lemon..."

.....Alan.

Bearss lemon is my favorite of all the lemons. Excellent quality lemon.