Exoticism on the Gulf of Finland

Do you know the land where lemon groves bloom,
Where in the dark foliage the bitter orange glows golden,
Where from the azure sky a fragrant breeze softly breathes,
Where myrtles grow so modestly, and laurels so proudly?

Do you know this land?
There! there!
With you, my beloved, I would go away forever!

('Mignon's Song', Goethe)

And truly, what more does a tender, quivering soul need?
In the bitter orange are gathered all the answers to the most stirring questions for a lady of any age.
From charming appearance to the healing properties of its flowers and fruits, and with a trail of chivalric romance, the bitter orange is a true champion among exotic plants.

As a hybrid of mandarin and pomelo, the bitter orange has absorbed the best from its citrus parents. It is also called bigarade, the Seville orange, or bitter orange because of the taste of its fruit.
The bitter orange's emerald leaves are oval-pointed, and in spring the little tree opens white inflorescences with a pleasant sweet scent — 'fleur d'oranger'.

They are called bridal flowers, a symbol of chastity and eternal youth. According to legend even Zeus could not resist Hera, fragrant after bathing in a floral bath, and married her.
Modern cosmetology has not overlooked this flower: the famous essential oil neroli, obtained from fleur d'oranger, is often used as a superb skin remedy.

The peel of bitter orange fruits is added to teas and tinctures to enhance their health-promoting effect.

For decorative purposes the small tree looks harmonious in formal gardens.
The homeland of the bitter orange is the warm southern regions of Southeast Asia.
To Europe, according to the common version, French knights brought this unusual fruit from the Crusades. It resembled a lemon with a rich orange sheen and became 'pomme d'orange', that is, 'apple of Orange'. Thus the bitter orange inspired a family name. The House of Orange as a royal dynasty still exists today.

At the end of the 17th century William II of Orange was ruler not only in the Netherlands but also in England. In that capacity he was known to our Peter the Great, and it is believed that Oranienbaum on the shore of the Gulf of Finland near Peterhof means 'the family tree of the Oranges'.
Today our champion, the bitter orange, adorns the coat of arms of modern Oranienbaum. It was created based on images from 1780, was approved on January 9, 1998; in 2005 and 2007 some changes were made to the coat of arms' description. In particular, the color of the trunk changed from green to red, the color of the fruits from red-orange to golden, and the shield's border disappeared.

So what can one say? Who would not slip away under the shade of the dark foliage where the magical rejuvenating apples burn like gold?