Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, Oregon, USA

Common name: Ichang papeda, 宜昌橙 yi chang cheng

Family: Rutaceae

Synonym: Citrus 'Ichang Papeda'

Distribution: China Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan India Assam (Khasi Hills)

Habitat: Mountains, hills, valleys; below 2500 m. S Gansu, N Guangxi, Guizhou, W Hubei, NW and W Hunan, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.

Hardiness: Zone 7b 5 to 10 F

Life form: Evergreen shrub

Comments: Lemon-scented foliage and flowers. It is native to southwestern and west-central China and is likely named for the city of Yichang, in China's Hubei province. The Ichang papeda is notable for its unusual hardiness.
Citrus cavaleriei has long been cultivated in China, especially as a stock for more edible cultivars. Frank Meyer may have been the first to introduce it to the West, collecting material in Hubei in 1917 (Valder 1999), although the name C. ichangensis was given to material collected by E.H. Wilson in western China between 1903 and 1907, from both cultivated and apparently wild plants (Swingle 1913). The fruit is considered to be more or less inedible, with little juice, though it can be used as a lemon substitute for lemonade; the Chinese value it most for perfuming rooms (Valder 1999). The floral fragrance lives up to expectations for orange-blossom (Hogan 2008).