“Greeks arrived – brought citrus …”It is for citrus sent his hero enterprising Greeks crammed a rumor about the delicious taste of “golden apples.” And according to scientists, Hercules went to China … and … he went for oranges! Generally considered to be the birthplace of citrus China and Southeast Asia. Even in the times of the great Chinese philosopher Confucius residents brought a special kind of citrus, the so-called yuzu. It dates back to 2500 years ago, and hence the origin of citrus on these lands thing of the past …Asian citrus were in Mesopotamia. Most likely, they were brought to the soldiers of Alexander the Great, and got there widely used because of the Arabs. Credible sources mention about the plant citron, which proizrostaet in the area between 300 BC. Greek philosopher and botanist Teofast described citron-like plant that has sharp spines, and its fruit – round shape is not used as a food, but it has a great flavor. In his “History of Plants” Teofast calls legendary citrus “Persian apple.” Already in the Middle Ages across Europe were other citrus fruit – sour orange and lemon. They were brought back to Spain by the Arabs first, and then disseminating the southern European countries. Arabs was familiar taste of sour orange, they called them “nereng”, from the Arabic word «nareng». Oh sweet oranges Europe learned only in the XV century, thanks to the navigator Vasco da Gama. Visiting Mombasa, on the shores of Africa, Vasco da Gama was a gift from the Arabian sultan many different fruits, among them were large juicy oranges. Since that time, citrus, namely sweet orange was the craze. Europeans began to try to grow it in terms of its climate, built special greenhouses. Even it has become fashionable to grow in a tub orange tree. Time has passed and this exotic fruit has become “his” in the Mediterranean. The well-known English word «orange» comes from the Arabic «nareng». Over time, it began to say no, and the first letter in the French manner. Another Project Name orange «portogalo», but its origin is not known. Until now, in some countries, such as Iran, Iraq, Turkey oranges called “portakal”, and in Georgia – “portohali.” In Russia the word “orange” stuck in an analog to the German word «apfelsine», which translates as “Chinese apples”.