the citron has many names in different countries; one popular reference is "cedrat", which is the french name for the fruit. theophrastus referred to the citron as the persian or median apple, and the fruit later came to be known as the citrus apple. pliny calls the tree the assyrian, or the median, "apple" (the generic greco-roman name for globose fruits). other citrus crops were not introduced to the mediterranean basin until islamic times.