Bitter orange

Native to East Asia, the tree was brought to Sicily by the Arabs towards the end of the ninth century A.D. It was prized by the Arab and Norman gardeners of the royal residences for the beauty of its fruit, from which they made syrups, juices, marmalades and candied fruit; for intense aroma of its flowers, which were used to make essential oils, and for medicinal properties of its bark. It subsequently spread throughout the Sicilian countryside as a grafting host for sweet oranges, which were introduced to the island in the sixteenth century.