Limes are grown on trees that flourish in tropical and sub tropical climates. Thought to originate from India , the Genoese and Portuguese traders introduced the lime tree into the Mediterranean area during the 13 th century and thereafter into the New World and the Caribbean .
The lime tree is bushy and can produce between 25 and 50 kg of fruit per flowering all year round.
The lime (or green lemon) is a small citrus fruit, spherical or oval in shape. The skin is smooth and thin; the pulp is juicy and generally tart in taste.
Almost seedless, this fruit is more juicy than the lemon.

• Mexican or West Indian lime : very small fruit, very thin skin quite tough; its pulp is very sour, yellow green and very perfumed.
• Tahiti lime and Persian lime : both varieties have the same characteristics. Fruit sized as a small lemon, juicy pulp, also yellow green but less sour and less perfumed than the very small limes.
  

Lime trees bearing small fruit are mainly cultivated in Mexico, India and in the Caribbean, whereas lime trees bearing larger fruit tend to come from Brazil, Florida and La Martinique.