<P> The origin of the lemon is unknown, though lemons are thought to have first grown in Assam (a region in northeast India), northern Burma or China . A study of the genetic origin of the lemon reported it to be hybrid between bitter orange (sour orange) and citron . </P> <P> Lemons entered Europe near southern Italy no later than the second century AD, during the time of Ancient Rome . However, they were not widely cultivated . They were later introduced to Persia and then to Iraq and Egypt around 700 AD . The lemon was first recorded in literature in a 10th - century Arabic treatise on farming, and was also used as an ornamental plant in early Islamic gardens . It was distributed widely throughout the Arab world and the Mediterranean region between 1000 and 1150 . </P> <P> The first substantial cultivation of lemons in Europe began in Genoa in the middle of the 15th century . The lemon was later introduced to the Americas in 1493 when Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola on his voyages . Spanish conquest throughout the New World helped spread lemon seeds . It was mainly used as an ornamental plant and for medicine . In the 19th century, lemons were increasingly planted in Florida and California . </P> <P> In 1747, James Lind's experiments on seamen suffering from scurvy involved adding lemon juice to their diets, though vitamin C was not yet known . </P>

Who brought the first lemon seeds to america