33-CITRUS AURANTIFOLIA (Christm.)
Local names: Key lime, Limboo, Nimo.
Family: Rutaceae
Location: Botanical garden, Fruit orchard
Characters: C. aurantiifolia is a shrubby tree, to 5 m (16 ft), with many thorns. Dwarf varieties exist that can be grown indoors during winter months and in colder climates. Its trunk, which rarely grows straight, has many branches, and they often originate quite far down on the trunk. The leaves are ovate, 25–90 mm (1–3+1⁄2 in) long, resembling orange leaves (the scientific name aurantiifolia refers to this resemblance to the leaves of the orange, Citrus aurantium). The flowers are 25 mm (1 in) in diameter, are yellowish white with a light purple tinge on the margins. Flowers and fruit appear throughout the year, but are most abundant from May to September in the Northern Hemisphere.
General use: Lime is the versatile mineral. Various forms of lime are used in environmental, metallurgical, construction, and chemical/industrial applications, and more. The fastest growing use of lime is in environmental applications, where lime is used to comply with air, drinking water, wastewater, and solid waste regulations. However, the largest single use of lime remains steel manufacturing, where it is used to remove impurities. In construction, the dominant use of lime is in soil stabilization for roads, earthen dams, airfields, and building foundations. Lime can be combined with certain additives to produce other metals and is also a key ingredient in mortar and plaster in lime slurry form. As an additive in asphalt, lime improves its cohesion, reduces stripping, and retards the aging process. There are additional chemical and industrial uses of lime, such as manufacturing chemicals and production of precipitated calcium carbonate.