I've just purchased a Buddha's Hand Citron tree. Everywhere I've looked says that this variety is seedless, unless you get the rare type that is semi-fingered that may produce seeds.

Assuming I have the common normal type that is seedless, would cross-pollination produce a fruit with seeds? Has anyone attempted this or found seeds in their Buddha's Hand?

If this is impossible I'll just use the Buddha's hand as the pollen donor in cross-pollination attempts. I'm hoping it produces viable pollen.

Has anyone eaten the white albedo on the inside? I read it is sweet and pleasant. Is the peel also edible out of hand or does it have to be candied?

Having the most popular subvariety of the Buddha you can't pollinate the flower because there is no stigma, and pistil is spilt into fragments (there's just a little "Buddha's hand" inside the flower). And the citron doesn't form nucellar seeds so... that's why it's impossible to find a seed in the fruit. I've heard pollen is not fertile, but I'm not sure about it. Tried to pollinate a Ponderosa lemon flower with it, and a fruitlet formed but dropped off while being too small to see if there were any seeds.

There's a subvariety called "Muli" or "Xiangyanggo" and it's said to create seeds, because of flowers having a normal pistil and stigma. The seeds should be zygotic, as the citron is monoembryonic.

The albedo is not very tasty when eaten raw, but after mincing the whole fruit and boiling the chaff with mead, you can get a quite aromatic and tasty fluid. A good thing to add to a tea, or when baking.

Wirtual24 thank you very much for the great information! I can't find anything about the pollen viability either, but I'll try and use the pollen first chance I get. It would be a shame if I can't hybridize using the common Buddha's Hand. I'll definitely use the fruits in cooking and drinks.

How are your Ponderosa lemon x Rangpur lime seedlings doing? Are you able to distinguish any possible hybrids yet?