grapefruit

grapefruit

1. a tropical or subtropical cultivated evergreen rutaceous tree, Citrus paradisi

2. the large round edible fruit of this tree, which has yellow rind and juicy slightly bitter pulp

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

citrus blossoms

citrus blossoms

Beautifully scented waxy flowers with a citrusy lemon flavor. Don’t eat too many at one time.

Edible Plant Guide © 2012 Markus Rothkranz

grapefruit

[′grāp‚früt]

(botany)

Citrus paradisi. An evergreen tree with a well-rounded top cultivated for its edible fruit, a large, globose citrus fruit characterized by a yellow rind and white, pink, or red pulp.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Grapefruit

 

or pomelo (Citrus paradisi), a fruit that grows in grapelike clusters, a fruit tree of the genus Citrus, family Rutaceae. Height, 15 m.

The leaves of the grapefruit are large, oval, and leathery, with alate petioles. The blossoms are white, bisexual, and single or in bunches of two to 20. The fruits are large (as much as 15 cm in diameter), round, slightly flattened, and single or in clusters of two to 15. The skin of the fruit is thick (about 1 cm), smooth, shiny, and pale yellow: it can be removed from the pulp only with difficulty and has a distinctive odor. The pulp is yellow or greyish-green, occasionally pink, and is very juicy and aromatic. The taste is bittersweet because of the presence of the bitter glycoside naringin. The fruit is composed of 88.5 to 90.9 percent water. 3.86 to 6.78 percent sugars, and 1.42 to 2.38 percent acid. The skin is composed of 9.19 to 19.04 percent pectic substances. Up to 45 mg of vitamin C are contained in 100 g of juice.

The fruit has dietetic and medicinal value. It stimulates the appetite and improves digestion and is used fresh for juice, jam, and stewed fruit. The average yield of a tree ten to 15 years old is 200 to 300 fruits. Grapefruit cultivation is developed everywhere in subtropical regions, including Georgia in the USSR. The best varieties are Duncan. Foster, and Marsh seedless. The Sukhumi experimental station for subtropical crops of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Plant-Growing has introduced the relatively frost-resistant and early-ripening types Hybrid No. 1537 and Hybrid No. 2974. The agricultural technique of growing grapefruit is similar to that of the orange, lemon, and other citrus crops.

REFERENCE

Zhukovskii, P. M. Kul’turnye rasteniia i ikh sorodichi, 2nd ed. Leningrad, 1964.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.