The explanation for the synonym C. chilensis is that in 1782 Molina gave a short description of a Chilean plant which he named Citrus chilensis. If this was in fact the present species, as some botanists believe, the epithet chilensis would be the correct one to use.
The original tree at Abbotsbury in Dorset, planted around 1840 and about 60 ft high in 1911, no longer exists. This tree, even when some seventy years old, still bore the spiny foliage characteristic of young trees and suckers, and this is true of the present tree in the garden, which measures 26 × 1 ft 8 in. at 2[1/2] ft. It has been propagated, and plants distributed to a number of collections. The example in the National Botanic Garden, Glasnevin, Eire, measures 23 × 4[1/4] ft (1980).