Bitter Orange

Parts Usually Used

Flowers, rind of the fruit

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

The orange is an evergreen tree; the trunk is covered with smooth grayish-brown bark; with its branches, it reaches a height of 20-30 feet. Long spines appear beside the buds. The alternate, ovate-oblong leaves are glossy and dotted with glands; their petioles are broadly winged, their margins are sinuate or crenately toothed. One or more fragrant, white, five-petaled flowers grow in the leaf axils.

The fruit is the familiar orange (technically an hesperidium), with segmented sour pulp inside a roughish rind. This species is not eaten fresh but is made into marmalade. Other varieties: Sweet orange (C. sinensis) which is grown for eating, differs from the bitter orange in having narrowly winged petioles and few or no spines. The fruit is usually smaller and has a sweet taste.

Medicinally it can be used like bitter orange, but is less effective except as a carminative. Mandarin orange (C. reticulata) used medicinally much as the bitter orange.

Where Found

). Grown in the far north of the United States (Baltimore) as an ornamental.

Medicinal Properties

Carminative, expectorant, laxative, stimulant, stomachic, tonic

Biochemical Information

Neohesperidin, naringin, rhoifolin, lonicerin, vitamin C and flavonoids

Legends, Myths and Stories

The bitter orange rind is used in Vermouth flavorings. The oil or dried peel is used in many liqueurs and bitters. Originating in southeast Asia or India, oranges are described in Chinese writings as early as 2200 BC, though their use is thought to date back much farther. The name orange is derived from the Sanskrit word for the fruit, narange. The bitter orange was introduced to Europe by the Crusaders; the sweet orange was not known in Europe until the 15th century, probably brought there from the Orient by Genoese merchants.

The Crusaders observed that Saracen brides wore orange blossom wreaths at their weddings. To the Saracens, the orange was a symbol of fecundity, because the tree bears fruit and blossoms at the same time. After the Crusaders’ return, the custom of using orange blossoms as bridal flowers was adopted in Europe; but it did not become widespread until the 17th century, probably because the blossoms were very rare and expensive until then.

The orange, as a traditional Chinese symbol of good luck and prosperity, is still used today in Chinese New Year’s celebrations. Bitter orange was bred specially for the extraction of pharmaceutical drugs, primarily in the West Indies and Spain. The bitter orange is only distantly related to the citrus fruits we eat; oranges, tangerines, and grapefruits. The flowers, the small unripe fruits, and the peel, minus the white inner skin, are the parts used pharmaceutically.

Flowers have a pleasant scent and ripe fruit contains sweet-smelling essential oil but bitter-tasting flavonoids.

Uses

Historically, herbalists used the dried rind of the sweet orange for dyspepsia and constipation. The oil extracted from the fresh rind was traditionally administered to address flatulence, poor appetite, and chronic bronchitis. Practitioners also prepared an infusion of the dried flowers as a mild nervous stimulant, while the distilled floral oil was believed to possess hypnotic properties when inhaled.

How Sold

Made into marmalades

Bibliography

, Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994 The Healing Plants , by Mannfried Pahlow, Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. , Hauppauge, NY 11788, 1992 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine , by Dr. A. , 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT.

06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. , Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988. The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H.

Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974