Hi Guys.
I purchased a 'meyer lemon' in October from a Canadian exotic fruit grower. So, I'd like to assume he knows what he was selling me.

But, I'd like to here some thoughts.
When I bought the plant there was a small 'lemon' on it(looked like a small lime). Over the coure of 3 months-ish... it grew to about the size of a lime, and was starting to lose its green colour.

I noticed it has a weird, waxy-looking spot that was forming so I went for it and picked it(didn't want the 'darker-spot' to take over the fruit.

By this time it was about the size of a lime. I cut it in half and it was PERFECT. Seedless, juicy, I tasted it..and it wasn't too acidic, definitly sweeter than a lemon. Couldn't figure out if I was tasting lime either. I've never tasted a meyer lemon so, I'm not sure if that's what they taste like.

Anywho. The blossoms of the plant are white(look like a persian lime). There's about one or two tiny thorns.

Is there any distinguishing factors that will let me know, what I have?

Thanks for the help

Meyer lemon flowers grow in clusters and the flower buds are pink. The flowers are relatively large also.

Flowers of the persian lime are small and entirely white, and do not grow in clusters.

I will see if I can find some of my old pictures of my Meyer Lemon tree.

My tree has thorns that will make you yell when stuck. Big, long thorns that make you pick with great care.

My Lemons do have have seeds, maybe four or five per lemon. The flowers are, in my poor opinion, lined with a more purple-pink hue just before they open and smell wonderful.

The color goes from green to yellow to orange. That takes about 6-7 months.

Randy

Thank-you Marc and Randy!
In this case, I think I have a persian lime!
I do not recall pink buds. Just white bud, and white flowers.

Would an immature meyer lemon the size of a lime be juicy and seedless?

These are about as good a descriptions as you will find.

Ned

Persian Lime:

http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/persian.html

Meyer Lemon:

http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/improvedmeyer.html

Persian lime (='Tahiti' or 'Bearss' lime) should have no pollen in the flowers at all, so the anthers are greenish white, rather than the normal yellow of a citrus flower. Also, 'Tahiti' will have triangular petiole wings on at least some leaves (the wing is quite variable from leaf to leaf), whereas 'Meyer' will have little or no wing at all. That your fruit was sweeter than a normal lemon makes me think it's not likely 'Tahiti', which should be very acidic.

Thanks for all the information!
Looking at Ned's link of the lime, my tree's fruit looked almost identical to the photo(flesh and thin skin).

I also distinctly remember white flowers and do not recall the pink buds associated with the meyer lemon.

The flowers are long gone.

And I honestly can't remember what the inner anatomy of the flowers looked like.

I'm leaning towards lime right now.

Does it have the petiole wings? That would clinch it immediately.

Malcom,
The plant does not have any winged petioles.
Maybe I need to continue sitting on the fence.

If none of the petioles have wings, we can rule out Persian/Tahiti/Bearss. Of course it may still not be Meyer.

The suspense continues, lol.
Thanks for all the information!

New leaves have the petiole wings.
So, I can rule out lemon?

On my Persian lime, the flowers are very small and don't actually bloom like other citrus. The buds barely open and then the fruit develops from there. Meyer should have pink flower buds & open into large flowers.

If the petioles have wings, then they are not lemons. Lemon petiole's are thin and without any wings. - Millet (644-)

It sounds like a Palestine Sweet Lime (Citrus × limon (L.) Osbeck 'Indian Lime') to me. I have one of these right next to my Meyer lemon. When we first moved in, the sweet lime was so defoliated and in such bad shape, I couldn't identify it. Here's a link about this tree:
http://users.kymp.net/citruspages/limes.html#limettioides
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/palestine.html

And here are some photos if this helps, to see the difference between my two trees. The first set are photos of the Palestine Sweet Lime. You'll see the fruit is round, turns yellow as it ripens, and the flowers are completely white. The leaves have no reddish tinge and there are no winged petioles. The tree also has a more erect, upright growth habit:










And here are some photos of my Meyer lemon. You'll see the the fruit has a distinctly yellow-orange tinge when fully ripe. The fruits are larger, have a varying shape with some being oblong, some oblong with a little point at the end, and some are rounder. The flowers, non-winged petioles and new leaf flush have a pinkish/purple tinge and there are always a wide variety of fruit of varying ripeness blossoms and blossom buds at just about any time on my Meyer: