A lemon in a lemon?
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Excerpt of still life by Jan Davidsz de Heem, "Breakfast with Wine Glass and Goudse Pipe" P/C source Wikimedia. |
Curiously, I've actually found a perfectly formed lemon (peel and all) growing inside of another lemon. That was weird, so I looked around a bit and discovered a world of remarkable things.
Obviously, this led to this week's SearchResearch Challenge:
1. What do you call this strange lemon inside of another lemon?
I'll start by telling you what doesn't work: Almost any query having to do with just "lemon" in it. There are just too many articles about lemons--especially recipes--that the term "lemon" is overwhelmed by other content.
BUT, [lemon inside lemon] does lead you to a fun Reddit post about exactly this (in the subreddit /mildlyinteresting). That post has a perfect pic of the lemon-in-lemon, exactly like the one I saw.
Otherwise, this kind of search doesn't work well. Or at least, there's not a lot of information out there that's about "lemons in lemons." So we have to shift our strategy.
I realized this only after trying a lot of variations (e.g., [twin of lemon] [double lemon] [lemon growing inside of lemon]). Despite being very clever, all I found were reports of lemon seeds sprouting inside of a lemon fruit. I've seen a lot of those (I grew up in Los Angeles where every other home has a lemon tree), but it's not quite the same thing. They look like this, perhaps you've seen this as well:
That's not it, though... We're looking for a fully-formed lemon fruit on the inside of the lemon.
Then I saw the comment on this blog by Harry8Dresden who said that he just copied much of the Challenge into ChatGPT 4o. I tried this with ChatGPT 4o, Claude 3.7, and Gemini 2.0 Flash. (If you try other AIs, let us know in the comments.) I just copy/pasted this much of the Challenge statement:
[ This happened to me once... I found a fully formed, perfectly intact lemon completely enclosed within an outer lemon shell. Silly me, I didn't take a picture, but imagine a double-skinned lemon and you'll have the right idea.
So, as you'd imagine, I did a little bit of research and found that there is a very specific name for this kind of strange double lemon fruit AND learned that it was well known in the 18th century! Obviously, this has to lead to a SearchResearch Challenge: 1. What do you call this strange lemon inside of another lemon? ]
Here, in summary, is what I got back from each:
ChatGPT: calls this lemon-in-lemon an "inclusion" and points to the French naturalist Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville included detailed descriptions and illustrations of citrus fruits exhibiting unusual growth patterns in his 18th-century botanical works.
That may be, but the cited work actually does NOT contain any of d'Argenville's citrus writings! Hmm. d'Argenville wrote extensively about gardens, but NOT about citrus, nor enclosed. Correction: he had one brief mention about the origin of Bergamot oranges, but nothing about the oddities of lemon growth.
(More interesting and odder: I actually ran this query on ChatGPT twice by accident, and got different answers each time. The first time ChatGPT called it a "supernumerary fruit," which is close, but not quite right. A "supernumerary" is just an extra fruit in an unusual place--not an enclosed fruit.) In both cases, ChatGPT didn't help much.
Claude: Says...well... funny you should ask. Claude initially said that this was "endocarp polyembryony" but then changed its mind to say that this unusual growth is called a "citrus within citrus" or more specifically an "endocarp proliferation." (Good thing Claude changed its mind: "polyembryony" refers to multiple shoots from the same seed--NOT what we're looking for.)
Except... "citrus within citrus" usually refers to a particular type of citrus being (taxonomically) a child of another citrus variety--example: the Meyer lemon results from a cross of a citron and a pomelo. Claude interprets this phrase incorrectly.
And "endocarp proliferation" is the increase in endocarp tissue, the innermost layer of the fruit wall, particularly as it develops and matures.
Claude went on to say that:
In historical botanical literature, particularly from the 18th century, this was referred to as "Fructus in fructo" (fruit within fruit) or "proliferous citrus.
Meanwhile, "fructus in fructo" translates to "fruit within fruit" and is used to describe the usufruct legal concept, which is a right to enjoy the benefits of property owned by another. It specifically refers to the right to collect the "fruit" (profits) from a property. In this context, "fructus" refers to the product of the property, like crops or animals, or the income generated from it. It has nothing to do with one "fructus" being contained within another.
Finally, "proliferous citrus" refers to additional fruit that forms on the side of the base fruit. Many citrus do this, but it's not inside the original fruit--it's not what we're looking for.
While I learned a lot from Claude, it was mostly off-topic learning. *I* appreciate the excursions, but most people probably won't. Not a great reply.
Gemini: Tells us that some 18th century texts "...describes citrum in citro, noting it as a "strange monstrosity" where "one lemon [grows] from the centre of another."
This Latin phrase, translating to "citrus in citrus" or, more specifically in this context, "lemon in lemon," provides a historical designation for the observed anomaly.
Gemini also tells us that:
"In modern botanical terminology, the phenomenon described by the user aligns closely with the concept of internal proliferation or carpelloid formation. Several of the provided research snippets discuss this occurrence in other fruits, particularly bell peppers."
A quick regular Google search confirms that these terms (internal proliferation and carpelloid formation) actually DO refer to the development of an abnormal ovule inside a fruit, resulting in a miniature version of the parent fruit rather than seeds. This phenomenon often occurs in peppers (Capsicum annuum).
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P/C Wikimedia A pepper inside of a pepper, just like lemons. |
Gemini goes on to tell us that:
"Johann Christoph Volkamer's comprehensive work, Nürnbergische Hesperides, published in the early 18th century, aimed to document the various citrus fruits known at the time, including their cultivation and characteristics."
So I looked up this book and found you can download it from Heidelberg University
The book bills itself as "Nürnbergische Hesperides, Oder Gründliche Beschreibung Der Edlen Citronat- Citronen- und Pomeranzen-Früchte: Wie solche in selbiger und benachbarten Gegend/ recht mögen eingesetzt/ gewartet/ erhalten und fortgebracht werden" (Or..."Nuremberg Hesperides, or a thorough description of the noble citron, lemon, and bitter orange fruits: how such in the same and neighboring area/ may be properly used, maintained, preserved, and transported.")
If you read through the book, you'll eventually find this page:
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Page 173 of Nürnbergische Hesperides. P/C Google Books |
Which has this accompanying figure:
The figure is not 100% clear, but the text is very straightforward. If you use Google Translate (in camera mode) to translate the text, you'll find:
"When I cut it open, I found two small fruits inside, which had grown a little at the top, but could still be lifted out, and were surrounded by a yellow shell, but inside completely white and thick, without a single mark. When I cut off a space among similar small fruits, and for the third time these small fruits, I found hidden inside reach."
Now we know: the lemon-in-lemon effect has been known about for a long time, and it's got a very specific modern botanical term: internal proliferation or carpelloid formation. In the 18th century, it was known as citrum in citro. (Yes, I did a bit more confirmation searches and found other books that used this phrase.)
2. What famous 18th century explorer knew about this strange lemon?
Finding this was a bit tricky. For many historical searches like this I turn to Google Books, limiting my search to books published in the 18 century. Choose the tools option and limit your search like this:
And then, the guessing game was on: How would an 18th century explorer talk about something like this? (And would it be in English, Spanish, Portugese, or Chinese? There were a LOT of explorers at the time.) I started with queries in English, hoping against hope that I'd find something, maybe something in translation.
As before, I tried a lot of queries: [lemon in lemon] [ lemon within lemon] [lemon surrounded by lemon] [citrum in citro] etc etc.
On the 7th or 8th attempt, I struck gold with [lemon enclosed within lemon]
The first hit ("New Royal Geographical Magazine") contains the second document, which is Volume 1 of Captain James Cook's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. On page 14 Cook writes about a stopover on Tenerife with a few botanical notes: ... they called it an "...impregnated lemon. It is a perfect and distinct lemon enclosed within another and differing from the outer only in being a little more globular."
So we find that Captain James Cook wrote about the citrus in citro
3. Where did he find these odd botanical mutants?
Reading through the text, we find that Cook wrote about this odd lemon while his ship was on a pause in the Canary Islands in 1776 near the beginning of his Third Voyage. This was the Voyage that ended with him being killed in Kealakekua Bay in 1779.
Later, William Bligh (famously of the mutiny) also took his ship, Bounty, to the Canary Islands in 1788 at the beginning of his shortened round-the-world trip when the sailors cast him off the ship into south Pacific waters in April 1789. He also used the same term ("impregnated lemon") to describe the odd fruit.
You might wonder how Cook could write this book that was published AFTER his death. Answer: one of the men who served under Cook on board the HMS Resolute, James King, took over as captain on Cook's death, and wrote up the voyages after he returned to England (based on both his and Cook's extensive notes).
SearchResearch Lessons
1. Using an AI to generate ideas and leads is a great idea! But check everything. As we saw in this example, LLMs don't always speak truthfully or with attention to detail. ChatGPT and Claude both were seriously wrong. Gemini did better this time, but always / always / always check what you find. Use another AI if you have to, but in the end, validate with grounded texts (that are usually easier to find with regular search).
2. Searches can take time.. and reward iteration. When looking for the 18th century commentary on "lemon in lemon," I had to try a LOT of variations on that query. With persistence, I was able to find the Captain Cook quote--but I admit that I got fairly lucky. This is one of those cases when your personal knowledge (in this case, about the way an 18th century sea captain might write) can be incredibly handy. Arr!
3. Remember Google Books is a great repository for historical searches. Especially since you can limit the search to a particular period.
Keep searching!