What a nice find! Keep us updated. You might get more lemons than you can use, though. I usually get around 300 and give most of them away.

Very nice, Suzi!! Yes, if the leaves smell like lemon, it's a lemon! Especially if your flower buds are pinky purple. When you can snap some pics, please post. Lucky tree to have you as its new owner :-)

I bought a bag of lemons from the grocery store tonight, and they all have this little bump on the end. That tree is loaded with lemons with that same bump. They are little, and hard and green, but they have that distinctive bump.

So, I'm guessing, not Meyer!

I'm sure there is a Meyer there, but this hidden treasure is something else! I will take photos!

Suzi

No, sounds more like a Eureka to me. Very common lemon tree planted in S. California, and has that distinctive nub or pointed end. Very prolific here, Suzi, you'll have lemons coming out of your ears once your tree fully recovers, lol!

Patty S.

Ha! I do not fear lemons! They are the perfect shower cleaning thing! They destroy calcium deposits, eat away all bacteria, and leave everything smelling lemon fresh!! Plus, mixed with a little garlic and olive oil, the best salad dressing ever!

Does the Eureka have serious huge thorns? This one does! I wear rose thorn protection gloves when going deep into the tree.

This "renovation nightmare house" has many uses for the fruit of the lemon!

And there is always lemonade, and my favorite spa icy lemon/cucumber water.

I did learn today that if you leave a lemon slice all night on a sample of your granite counter top, and you can see that it has eaten away the finish, YOU DO NOT WANT THAT GRANITE! Choose something that can withstand the acid of the lovely lemon!

Suzi

This post was edited by desertdance on Tue, May 21, 13 at 15:07

They can, Suzi, but the Lisbon lemon is the lemon known for its thorns. Any citrus tree that is sending out rapid growth (water sprouts) will have thorny new growth.

Patty S.

Here is a photo of the little lemons. They all have that bump at the end. I wonder if it's a seedling that just grew big.

The flowers were white, not purple.
Suzi

Well, usually Eureka lemon flowers and new growth are tinged with purple fairly dramatically. Lisbon not quite as dramatically as the Eureka, mostly the flower buds with flowers opening to white. Here is some helpful information from the Citrus ID Tool to help distinguish between a Eureka and a Lisbon, which most likely is what you've got in your yard, as they are the two most common lemons available here in S. California by far (ruling out Improved Meyer, which is very unlikely due to the fruit shape, especially if the fruit shape is consistently oblong with pointed ends):

"The Lisbon tree in California is characterized by maximum growth vigor, thorniness, density of foliage, size, cold resistance, and production of a crop mainly in winter and spring. By contrast the Eureka tree is considerably less vigorous, virtually thornless, less densely foliated, much smaller, markedly less cold-resistant, and less productive but more everbearing. The bulk of the Eureka crop is produced in spring and summer. The Eureka variety also has a marked tendency to produce the fruit in terminal clusters."

Pretty sure you've got yourself a Lisbon lemon, and most likely not a seedling, but a grafted tree. Lisbon is terribly and wickedly thorny, but produces great lemons.

Patty S.

Here is a link that might be useful: UC Citrus Variety Collection: Frost Lisbon Lemon

Nice link, Patty! Thanks for the ID! Nice to know the Lisbon produces great lemons!

I do think there is a Meyer lemon also on the property. All the trees have been neglected for so long, it will be hard to get them in photo taking shape!

There is a Lime, Orange, dwarf tangerine and something else. I will have to wait for the fruit to ripen to see what else we have.
Suzi