Kahel
Citrus × aurantium · Bitter orange
- Names in the book
- Naranjas del país, Sp.; Kahel, Kahil, Tag.; Native Orange, Eng.
- Colours
- flowerwhitefruitorange
- Native range
- Southeast Asia
- Family
- Rutaceae, filed in the book under Rutaceæ
- Printed as
- Citrus Bigaradia, Hook. f. (C. vulgaris, Risso; C. aurantium, Blanco.)
- Sources
- Page 66 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
The bitter orange, sour orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the hybrid citrus tree species Citrus × aurantium, and its fruit. It is native to Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of the world. It is a cross between the pomelo, Citrus maxima, and the wild type mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata. The bitter orange is used to make essential oil, used in foods, drinks, and pharmaceuticals. The Seville orange is prized for making British orange marmalade.
Excerpt from “Bitter orange” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 38 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 3 provinces: Nueva Ecija (2), Bataan (1), Batangas (1).
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The rind of the cagel is the so-called bitter orange peel, the best of which comes from Curaçao and Barbadoes. It is tonic and is used in decoction and in syrup. The infusion of the leaves, 5–10 grams to the liter, is useful as a sedative and diaphoretic in hysterical and nervous attacks; the infusion of the flowers is similarly used. When distilled the flowers yield a very sweet essential oil called neroli, which is used as a perfume only.
Botanical description
A tree 15–20° high, trunk bearing solitary spines. Leaves medium lanceolate, serrate, the apex notched, petioles winged. Flowers usually solitary. Calyx 4–5-toothed. Corolla 4–5 petals. Filaments joined or separate. Anthers about 20. The fruit, a small orange 2′ or more in diameter, the peel closely adherent.
The C. aurantium verum or C. reticulata (Blanco) has a yellow pulp and the rind is readily separated from it, a thin net of fibers intervening.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activities of Essential Oils, and Their Combinations, Obtained from Flavedo By-Product of Seven Cultivars of Sicilian Citrus aurantium L
- Citrus aurantium 'Changshan-huyou'-An ethnopharmacological and phytochemical review
- Hypoglycemic and Gut Microbiota-Modulating Effects of Pectin from Citrus aurantium "Changshanhuyou" Residue in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Mice