Finger Limes – Citrus australasica
Finger Limes are an Australian Native Citrus that is now being developed for its commercial potential. This is a rainforest tree, although development has seen many improvements in varieties and hardiness.
Increasingly popular both for home gardeners as well as commercial fruit growers a number of hybrids are now appearing on the market with different characteristics to the species.
Grown in a range of climates, Finger Limes tolerate frosts and are commercially grown in many areas of Australia. An export industry is beginning to grow around these fascinating fruit trees,
Grown for the long finger shaped citrus fruits, and for the attractive range of fruit colors from yellow through to red, green and almost black. Australian Finger limes are now produced by grafting onto stronger rootstock such as Poncirus trifoliata which is a Chinese rootstock used widely in commercial citrus growing for its hardiness.
The fruit itself is made up of small juicy beads which lend themselves to a range of uses not open to many other citrus fruits.
Varieties
All have different characteristics including ripening times, with perhaps WG2 being the sweetest. some varieties, such as Alstonville have very few seeds, which can be desirable. Finger limes include cultivars such as:
- Alstonville
- Tambo
- Pink Ice
- WG2,
- NY7
- R13.