Citrus Medica, Citron, Etrog
(Hebrew: אֶתְרוֹג)

The origin of the citron is unknown, but it was the first cultivated citrus fruit, with records dating back to 4000 BCE.

It was a common fruit in the Mediterranean region at the time of the Bible and it is mentioned only once, as one of the four species used in a waving ritual during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Leviticus 23:40 refers to the etrog as pri etz hadar (פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר), which literally means, “a fruit of the beautiful tree.” The other species are the lulav (date palm frond), hadass (myrtle bough), and aravah (willow branch).

The etrog does not appear in the passage in Nehemiah 8:15 : ” Go out to the hills, and bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” It is said that the exiles who returned from Babylon, of whom Nehemiah was one of the leaders, introduced the etrog into Israel for the first time.

According to the Halakha (the collective corpus of Jewish religious law), the etrog used in the mitzvah of the Four Species must be unblemished and of perfect form and shape. It should be shaped like a tower, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. It should also be straight and recessed inward at the bottom where the stem grows. The etrog should have a ‘pitam’ on the end opposite from the stem and free of spots and blemishes; it should be covered with bumps and depressions and should not be smaller than an average egg.

H.B.Tristram (Natural History of the Bible; 1883) wrote: The citron is the most common species of the Orange tribe in Palestina, and was probably the first introduced. It is native of Media. The leaves are larger than those of the Orange, and the blossom pale purplish like the Lemon, instead of white like the Orange. The fruit, which is much larger than a lemon, and of an oblong shape is only used as a conserve.