The citrus fruit group are typically hardy perennial trees which may require some degree of protection against cold temperatures. They proliferate in a Mediterranean type climate, but won't do well in a temperate UK-type climate because of the relatively long time required to ripen the fruit. In warmer climates with good sunlight and hot weather produces fruit with stronger sweeter flavours. Citrus fruit sometimes set fruit several times through a year or even continuously.
All the citrus fruit have been in cultivation so long as the varieties currently present and their predecessors that they have spread across the globe much further than their origins. This is due in no small part to their ability to store well (most of them having thick skins); they spread rapidly across the globe thanks to the trading of the Europeans and the Americans, catering for their developing expensive and exotic tastes in the middle of the last millennium.
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- Orange - Oranges share similar characteristics with other members of the citrus family