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Rutaceae family

Key Lime Citrus ×aurantiifolia hybrid

Key Lime is an introduced perennial tree, found in the lower 48 states, U.S. outlying islands, and the Pacific Basin.

More about this plant

The Key lime, also known as West Indian lime, Mexican lime, or Egyptian lime is a type of lime. While it is treated as a species in botanical classification, it originated as a natural hybrid between Citrus micrantha and Citrus medica (citron). Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 11 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Tree layer (canopy / understory) — Sits in the tree of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~1 caterpillar species

Citrus supports ~1 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a modest genus for introduced plants — native genera typically support far more.

Recorded feeding on Citrus in North America, including:

Acharia stimulea · Saddleback Caterpillar Moth Agrotis ipsilon · Dark Sword-Grass Amorbia cuneanum · leafroller moth Amphion floridensis · Nessus Sphinx Amyelois transitella · Navel Orangeworm Anacamptodes fragilaria · geometer (inchworm) moth
+ 8 more species →
Anavitrinella pampinaria · Common Gray Archips argyrospila · Fruit-Tree Leafroller Moth Archips rosana · Rose Tortrix Argyrotaenia citrana · leafroller moth Autographa californica · Alfalfa Looper Moth Cacoecimorpha pronubana · Carnation Tortix Cadra cautella · Fig-Moth Choristoneura parallela · Spotted Fireworm Moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (10) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[08] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[09] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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